Marauder's Luck
by GriffinRose
Summary: Seventh year had it's own problems and drama before the Marauder's year. But when they come into the picture, luck has flown out the window, leaving them open targets for their enemies. And their enemies are more than happy to take this chance to attack.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Harry Potter, no matter how badly I wish I did._

Chapter 1 : The dream

_James Potter's POV _

I knew I was dreaming for several reasons. One, was because it was summer here, and I was already back at Hogwarts for my seventh year.

Two, well…Let's just say it's not the first time I've dreamt that I was walking up the path to the Potter Mansion with my best mate, Sirius Black. We were coming back from King's Cross. Now that we were both of age, my parents trusted us to come home safely on our own.

Or something like that. I didn't really know or care why. I was having a great time being free of school rules. Not like I listened to them anyway, but it's much nicer not getting in trouble. But you'll never hear me say that out loud.

Anyway, since we were both enjoying ourselves so much, it took us a long time to figure out that something was wrong. And that's pretty impressive, considering it's a giant green mark that's completely out of place over my house.

I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight, all signs of laughter draining from my face. Sirius took a moment longer, and he looked back at me, then followed my gaze.

"Oh no," he said. We left our school trunks where they were and drew our wands as we ran to the house. I couldn't speak. The door didn't show signs of a forced entry. But hey, when you're a wizard and have this wonderful and deadly thing called a wand, that becomes a moot point.

"I'll take the upstairs, you search downstairs," he said, running right for the grand winding staircase. I nodded, my voice lost somewhere behind me. I turned right into the sitting room, but there was nothing there, or at least nothing that would have caught anyone's attention but my own.

See, my mother's very meticulous about the placement of everything in the house that she has to see. Especially furniture and how they're positioned. Sirius would have missed it, seeing as how he moved it half the time himself, but my father's black armchair was moved several inches to the left, in the way of the five foot gap.

So maybe they'd noticed something was wrong and hurried out of here?

I walked back to the entrance hall (really, there's nothing else to call it). I'm not surprised I missed it the first time; it's shrouded in the shadows of the house. But there all the same, a vase of flowers that's supposed to be on the white column pedestal not far from it was shattered on the ground.

My breath caught in my throat, and my pulse started racing faster than the wind in my ears when I played Quidditch. _That_ could certainly not be a good thing. Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remembered what was said about the Dark Mark, about how it's only summoned when someone was killed. But my mind refused to process the idea.

I shakily took a few steps forwards. I could hear the floor creaking above me as Sirius made his way through the upstairs. The rest of the house was unnaturally silent. I stopped next to the broken vase. The water was mostly evaporated. How long had it been then?

I looked down the hall. There were only three rooms left to check in this direction, and all of them led off the door only ten feet from me. I took a few deep breathes and held my wand out in front of me. What good I thought it would do, I have no idea. But I felt better with it there, ready to fire off at a moments notice.

This door had been blasted apart. Only part of it was still on the hinges. The rest of it was scattered around the dining room. The table in the middle of the hall was cracked in half, leaning in on itself. The chandelier that usually hung above it had fallen. That was in pieces, deadly shards scattered about the room. I tried not to notice that a few shards had a red substance on them.

I was closer to whatever had happened now, to knowing the answer that I'm not sure I want to find. Would I be happier not knowing? Would it be easier to think that maybe that had gotten away? That they were waiting some place safe for the war to end?

I didn't give myself time to dwell on it. I kept walking forward, around the destroyed table. Splinters littered the floor. Wind from the broken window blew through, making an odd sound. I'm pretty sure I imagined the voice I heard, telling me it's too late. They're dead. It's too late.

The entrance to the kitchens was pretty much in tact. Had I not been so numb, that probably would have surprised me. But I just pushed the door and stepped into the carnage that was the kitchen. Things were laying everywhere. Blood was everywhere. The sink must have gotten hit somehow, because it was leaking, mixing water with the blood. Making everything worse. A foul stench was rising into the air.

The blood led out to the back porch. I swallowed and took a deep breath. Would my parents still be barely alive? Would I be able to get them to St. Mungo's in time? Maybe, even, and I know this is crazy, but, is it possible, that maybe, it's a death eater that's in there? Could my parents have beaten them? Were they just hurt, waiting for me to help them?

It was this thought, I think, that propelled me forward. I turned out to the back porch. Normally a very calm and soothing place, this was now the sight of nauseous carnage. My parent's bodies were nearly destroyed. Blood was everywhere, splattered onto the screen windows, coating the wicker furniture. My parents looked like they'd been used to sharpen a knife. My father had a protective hold over my mother. They were both facedown. A single knife protruded from the side of his neck, at such an angle that it also pierced my mother's slender neck.

I fell to my knees, not able to tear my eyes from the sight. "No," I whispered. This couldn't be true. This wasn't real. They weren't dead! This wasn't real! "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Xx

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, successfully waking me and everyone else in the dorm. I thrashed around, still caught in part of the dream, as if I could do something, and fell off the four poster bed and onto the stone floor of my dorm room.

"Bloody Hell James!" Sirius yelled. I felt hands on my shoulders, lifting me back up and out of the dream. I opened my eyes completely and saw the blurry outline of my friend. I reached a shaky hand out to the nightstand for my glasses while trying to get back onto the bed. Sirius helped with the latter. He sat down next to me and laid a hand on my shoulder while I pushed my glasses into place.

Remus sat down on my other side and also laid a hand on my shoulder. Peter was at a loss, but finally settled for sitting behind me on the other side of my bed. I didn't even realize I was shaking so badly until Sirius said something about it.

"Geez James. You start shaking any harder and you'll go right through the floor." Remus glared at him. I tried to smile at the joke, but I couldn't. It was like I'd lost all control of my muscles.

It has been four months since that day. Four months since I found the bloody remains of my parents. And I still can't sleep. I still have nightmares. And I still shake out of control with the thought.

Remus rubbed my back. Yes, for two guys this is weird. No, it does not count as weird when the one guy is about to sob uncontrollably and needs someone to comfort him.

And yes, I just admitted that.

But what's a guy like me, who's never really had responsibility before, supposed to do when both parents are dead and he suddenly finds he has a fortune and a manor to his name?

Find any way to deal with it, that's what. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to find a way. And the whole, have a nightmare every night and wake up either in a cold sweat or screaming is not working for me, let me tell you. I'm so out of it during the day now I don't even feel like playing a prank on Snape anymore. This of course had my friends deeply concerned, but they knew what was up.

Everyone else however was thinking something along the lines of: What in the name of Merlin is wrong with James Potter?

Which is actually a really good question. I'm James Potter! I can handle anything! You could probably throw me off the astronomy tower and as long as I have my wand, I'll be fine! I run around with a werewolf every month and I'm fine!

Even in the beginning of the year when I'd been held captive by Death Eaters and nearly killed I wasn't as bad as this. I was somewhat back to normal within two weeks.

But kill my parents and I apparently go to pieces. And I can't put myself back together this time.

I don't know what to do. I don't want to sleep. I don't even want to prank people. Not even Snape.

Merlin I'm pathetic! I shake my head, noticing now that they've stopped that Sirius and Remus have been talking, and probably to me.

I'm not the only person out there that has to deal with this! And if they can get through it, then I certainly can. I handle anything. And I'm going to handle this.

"James?" Remus asks uncertainly. I turn towards him and give an uneasy smile.

"I'll be okay," I said. "Lets go back to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asks. He still has a hand on my shoulder. I nod.

"Yeah. We don't all need to be tired tomorrow."

"Alright," Remus says, still uncertain. I roll my eyes and push him and Sirius off my bed. Peter gets off on his own. The three go their own beds, looking back at me. I smile again and take off my glasses.

I was not going to sleep at all.

End Chapter

_So, there's Chapter 1. If you haven't read it, Dark Days is a sort of prequel to this. You may want to read that if you haven't already, but I don't think it will be critical if you don't. _

_Please Review and tell me what you think of this!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. _

Chapter 2: Slipping Away

_James' POV_

The next day was nothing short of Hell for me. I was tired, so I kept falling asleep in class, so the teachers kept yelling at me and giving me detention. And it doesn't help that I'm Head Boy. That just looks really bad.

And the Head Girl was not happy about that at all. Lily Evans kept glaring at me throughout the day, thoroughly outraged that I had three detentions. I was doing them during lunch because of Head Boy duties and Quidditch practice, which was the only bright side. That meant all the detentions would be shorter than an hour. But I wouldn't have lunch for the rest of the week, which had been my original plan to catch up on sleep

"Mr. Potter! Would you kindly pay attention?" Professor McGonagall shouted. My head snapped back to the front of the class. McGonagall was staring daggers at me. I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry Professor," I said. Her eyes narrowed and she went back to her lesson on multiple transfigurations at once. I sighed and ran a hand through my already messed up hair. To be honest, McGonagall was lucky I wasn't asleep right now. I desperately wanted to, but in this class, that would be suicide. She'd give me detention for a month and not care about cutting into Quidditch practices. And as captain, that was not going to happen.

The bell rang, startling me yet again. Had that much time really passed? It didn't even feel like it's been twenty minutes into class yet! And I know I didn't fall asleep! At least I'm pretty sure I didn't…

"You coming Prongs?" Sirius asked, standing at the door with Remus and Peter. I nodded and grabbed my bag as I stood up. We didn't stop at the tower to put our bags away before going right to dinner. Ugh, food.

I didn't put anything on my plate, pushing it away from me instead. Remus narrowed his eyes at me. I inwardly sighed, knowing what was coming. In 3, 2, 1...

"James, you have to eat something," Remus said. I rolled my eyes and rested my head on my hand.

"I'm with Remus on this James. You slept through breakfast and made up one detention in lunch, not eating then either," Sirius said. He proceeded to shove food into his mouth when he finished talking, which for once did actually seem kind of revolting.

"I know, I know, I'm just not hungry," I said. True enough. Whenever I have _that_ dream I usually don't feel like eating until I'm about to pass out. Unfortunately, Remus and Sirius have noticed this.

"James, whether you're hungry or not, you still need to eat. Your body still needs food," Remus said, pointing his fork at me.

"Yeah! You got to keep it nice for the ladies!" Sirius said, pumping a fist in the air. I rolled my eyes and heard several people surrounding us trying to stifle their laughter. Leave it to Sirius.

"James, we _will_ drag you to Madam Pomfrey if you don't eat anything. And you know the first thing she'll do is ask Dumbledore if you can see professional help when we tell her why you won't eat," Remus said. I winced. He wouldn't dare…

"We will tell her mate if you don't eat," Sirius said, reading my mind. Or my expression, which is probably very easy to read right now.

"And then you know how things get around in this school. Everyone will know in two days what happened over the summer, including the Slytherins," Remus said. Ouch. He used that card on me? I must be worrying them.

Reluctantly, I pulled my plate closer again and piled a decent amount of food onto it. And just like every other time I tried to eat the day after the dream, I couldn't actually smell the food. I smelled the carnage of the back porch.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I forced some of it into my mouth and for my mouth to chew and swallow.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

And that includes when I tried to steal Bellatrix Lestrange's wand last winter break.

That one bite was not going to stay down. The only thing I smelled now was the rotting flesh of two corpses covered in crimson blood. My vision kept flickering on me, changing from the Great Hall to the back porch with two bodies laying lifeless…

"James? Mate? You okay?" Sirius's voice blearily made it through. I didn't say anything. I don't think I could have if I wanted to. I reached for my pumpkin juice to take a sip of it. Has it always been so red? Disgusted and very close to vomiting, I put it back down. I shoved the plate away again.

"James?" Remus asked. I vaguely heard Peter echo it.

"Is he okay?" another Gryffindor asked. I closed my eyes, thinking that would help. It didn't in the least. I could see it even more clearly now. I opened my eyes again and took a few deep breaths, which did nothing to help, instead only giving me a better sense of what I know is supposed to be food. There's only one scent though…

I looked around the room for something to pull me out of this. I saw people eating, shoving things into their mouths. Things that had a strange flesh tone to them.

And that was all I could take. I jumped up and ran from the room, raising some heads I'm sure. I heard my name called, but I really don't care right now.

I ran to the first boys' bathroom I came across. I gripped the edge of the sink and hurled for all I was worth. Disgusting, vile act of the human body…

It wasn't much, seeing as how I hadn't eaten much, but it was still gross. I was shaking worse than a leaf in a hurricane. My knees were threatening to give out beneath me, but I'd lost control of my body.

Distantly I heard the bathroom door open and close, and footsteps on the tiled floor.

"That is the last time we force him to eat," Sirius said behind me.

"Agreed," Remus said. Geez. I must look like something chucked up from Hell if they're saying that.

I looked up into the mirror. Remus looked pale, even for him. Sirius was just upset. Peter wasn't there, probably still running after us.

Me, well, I looked like something chucked up from Hell. My face was covered in sweat and what I think are tears, though I don't remember crying, and was also flushed as if I have a fever. I'm still shaking as well, which isn't helping things _at all_.

And suddenly, everything is too much. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm sick of it all. I'm sick of the war and of Voldemort and of school and of just trying to act like everything is normal when it's not! Everything is far from normal! Nothing is ever going to be normal again!

I grip the edges of the sink harder and squeeze my eyes shut as I feel the strength begin to leave my legs.

"James? Are you ok?" Sirius asks me. Ok? Am I ok? What kind of jackass question is that? I'm far from ok! I'm losing it! I'm pretty sure my thoughts were leading towards suicide three seconds ago!

"C'mon James. You're stronger than this. I know you are. Hell, you know how to keep a werewolf in check," Remus said. The muscles at the corner of my mouth twitch to form a smile, but nothing comes of it.

But he's right. I am stronger than this! I can -And will- overcome this!

"Why does it have to be so bloody painful?" I ask, barely audible to my own ears. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Sirius I think.

"You wouldn't have loved them if it weren't painful now. C'mon, lets go play some exploding snap or something," Sirius said. I don't turn. I've lost control of myself again. Why does it keep slipping away? Why does everything keep slipping away?

In sixth year, my grandparents had died. All four. Supposedly of natural causes. And in the middle of the year Sirius and I were both kidnapped and tortured near death over Winter Break. Then I come home for summer and find my parents dead. Why do they have to keep slipping? No matter how hard I try and hold on to them, they keep slipping through the cracks in my fingers…

My knees finally give out and I'm on the floor, tears streaming down my face again. My hands are still above me hanging on to the sink. It's my only lifeline in this Hell we call life.

"James!" Sirius calls out, surprised at the sudden fall.

"I'm hoping this is just a combination of lack of sleep and food," Remus says. "Physical we can handle."

"Well, he's obviously not going to get up on his own," Sirius says. I'm so far gone now I hardly realize he and Remus are lifting me to my feet and half carrying/half dragging me through the halls. Am I helping at all? Or am I just dead weight?

"You have to keep moving James. Your parents wouldn't want you to fall into this depression," Remus said. I open my eyes a crack and see scarlet carpet beneath us. How had we gotten to the common room so fast?

"Holy toad! What happened to James?" someone shouted. This of course got the attention of the entire Gryffindor common room.

"He's just tired! Back off you gits!" Sirius yelled. Well, better make a show now.

I supported my own weight again, making Sirius and Remus turn their heads. In the corner of my eye I saw Peter at our usual spot with all of our bags. He looked to be on the verge of standing up, but not sure what to do.

"I'm fine. Just didn't get a lot of sleep last night," I said, further proving Sirius's point. I walked over to the steps leading up to the boys dorms as if someone else is controlling me. I felt like a puppet.

"James," a voice called out behind me. I quietly groaned and turned, and then regretted quietly turning. Lily Evans stood there in all her glory with a concerned look, looking _at me_. Her perfect hair was down today.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you really okay? I…I saw you run out of the Great Hall at dinner," she added quietly. "You looked like you were going to be sick." Her emerald green eyes held nothing but concern _for me_.

"I just need to get some sleep," I said. Why couldn't I lie to her like I could to everyone else? Why couldn't I tell her I'm fine?

She wasn't convinced with that, and I knew I hadn't been convincing in the first place. Besides, she's smart. She can put clues together. Hell, she probably knows about Remus's "furry little problem" and knows that she has to keep quiet.

Well, that might be stretching it. But she is brilliant.

I smiled at her and went up to the dorm room. I didn't even bother changing before falling into bed and curling into a ball to sleep.

End Chapter

_This seems kind of short to me, so I'll try and make it up in the next few chapters. _

_Please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_If I were J.K. Rowling, do you really think I'd be spending my time writing fan fics? I do not own any part of Harry Potter. _

Chapter 3: Holding the Pieces

_James' POV_

Surprisingly, I woke up naturally the next morning. Usually Remus is shoving me off the bed to make sure I get to either breakfast or class on time. I blinked the last dredges of sleep away and sat up. Huh. There's a lot more sun coming into the room than I'm used to. And why is it so quiet?

I look around the room and notice I'm alone: my roommates abandoned me. How kind. I put my glasses on and notice something else that I couldn't see before: The clock on Remus' bedside table reads 11:50. And I know for a fact from the sun that it's morning. And I'm quite certain that today is only Thursday, meaning I've missed two of my classes.

One was History of Magic, so no loss there. I would have just slept through it anyway. The second was potions, which was definitely a loss. Weren't we doing something important today in that class? Crap.

11:51. I have detention with Flitwick in nine minutes! I quickly jumped out of bed and started running around the dorm, getting ready to go. Four minutes to get to detention all the way downstairs. Just. Great.

I run through the common room, surprised to see other people there who have this period off. I think they were more surprised to see me though. Not like I was stopping for questions though. Ugh! Why does this castle have to take so long to get through? Even with my shortcuts!

When I got to Flitwick's office he was standing outside, waiting for me. He frowned at my being late and I smiled. That was all I could do seeing as how out of breath I am. That and hang onto my side for all I'm worth. Nasty stitch.

"Well Mr. Potter. Sleeping again I'll presume? I think some physical punishment would be of use, wake you up a bit more."

I slumped against the wall. Physical punishments were the worst.

"Yes sir," I managed. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Perhaps something else…" he muttered. "Come inside my office."

I raised a brow at this sudden change. Merlin's pants, he's not going to interrogate me, is he?

I followed him in anyway, sitting in the chair he offered me.

"Now, care to tell me why you're so tired now?" he asked. "And don't bother lying. I can tell." Apparently he is going to interrogate me.

I sighed. "Just nightmares, professor." He nodded.

"About your parents perhaps?" he asked. I felt the blood drain out of my face. He seemed to take that as answer enough. "Mr. Potter…James…we all miss them. Your parents were very courageous wizards who had the gut to do what most won't. And they're probably very upset that you seem to have fallen into this depression."

"I know, it's just…" I bit my lip and turned away. It was just what? Did I think I could have somehow prevented it? If I had come home sooner, would I have been able to save them?

"James, I can't force you to move on with your life. But perhaps a little more sleep next time?" he suggested. I cracked a half smile.

"My friends actually let me sleep in today. I didn't miss much," I hurried to say. Well that was a lie. Flitwick smiled.

"Well, I think under the circumstances, we can scratch your detention for today. Now go have some lunch," he said. I smiled wider, thanked him, and left. My stomach growled, reminding me that I'd hardly eaten anything for a really long time. Let's hope I'll be able to stomach something this time.

I reached the Great Hall in about ten minutes; there's still thirty-five minutes left of lunch. I sat down next to Sirius. Peter and Remus are on the other side. Remus is reading and Peter is sort of daydreaming while he eats. Sirius is grumbling about something and not paying attention to anything whatsoever.

I raise a brow and decide it would be much funnier if I kept quiet. So I start dishing some food onto my plate and eating (thankfully). I watch my friends with an amused look on my face, waiting for them to notice me. Remus is somehow multi-tasking while reading, which I shall never for the life of me understand how.

And this is boring really fast. I look down the table to see Lily sitting with her dorm mates. She's laughing at something one of them said. She casually throws her beautiful red hair over her shoulder.

And after ten minutes, I can't take any more of this.

"I'm offended none of you have realized I'm here," I say. Sirius practically falls off the bench he's so surprised. Remus dropped his book, and Peter jumped a good two feet.

"James! Bloody Hell! Are you trying to give us a heart attack?" Sirius asked, righting himself. I'm doubled over in laughter, holding my side.

"How long have you been there?" Remus asked, picking his book out of his food and cleaning it with his wand.

"T…ten…minutes," I gasp out. I'm still in hysterics, laughing so hard that tears have come. Many heads in the great hall have turned towards us, wondering what I could possibly be laughing so hysterically about.

"Ten minutes? No way! You could not have been there for ten minutes without me noticing!" Sirius yelled. Many people around us started laughing as they figured out what was going on. I only laughed harder.

"When did you finally get up?" Remus asked, smiling slightly. Sirius was still fuming, but silently now.

"About ten of twelve," I reply, starting to sober now. My face still held a huge smile.

"What about your detention?" Peter asked, a hand still clutching his heart.

"Flitwick wavered it," I shrug. I take another bite of food, a smile still playing at my lips.

"Hey, you're eating," Remus, noted. I nod.

"Good, we can avoid a trip to Poppy's then," Sirius said, digging into his own food again. It appears I'm forgiven, as he's talking to me.

"What classes do we have this afternoon?" I ask.

"Herbology and then we're off," Sirius replied. I nodded. Remus would be taking Arithmancy and Runes then.

"Why'd you let me sleep in?" I asked. Remus and Sirius both looked at me with looks that said 'well-isn't-that-obvious-you-git?'

"Because you were pretty much passed out last night and needed some sleep. Plus you were dead to the world this morning. Couldn't get you up no matter what we did," Sirius said. "Freaked us out."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I'm usually not a heavy sleeper. The only time you can't get me up is when I don't want to get up, but at least you know I'm alive then, since I'm most likely hitting you.

No wonder I freaked them out.

"Hey, what's an owl doing here now?" Peter asked, pointing to the window reserved for owls. We all look to see a tawny owl flying over the Gryffindor table. It stops in front of me and holds its leg out. I take the letter with trepidation. Usually owls are only let in at this time if it's urgent.

There's no urgent mark on the letter though, just my name written in familiar writing. I open it and sigh in relief when I see it's just from Jessie.

"It's from Jessie," I say, answering my friends questions. Well, except for Peter.

"Who's Jessie again?" he asked. We all sigh.

"How many times do we have to go through this?" Sirius asked to the air.

"Jessie is an old friend of the family, practically is family, actually. Married a muggle and pretty much took herself out of the wizard world for him," I explain. Peter nods. I look at the letter:

Dear James,

How goes things? I hope you've been doing well. I can't imagine what it must be like since you're the one who found your parents, and I've heard enough gruesome stories from a few of my school girls on what it was you found. Though I suppose you don't really want to hear about that, do you?

Stephan and I have been doing well. He's starting to get used to some magic that I've been doing around the house now, which has made the chores so much easier. I'm still trying not to do it in front of him though. Best not to give him a heart attack!

Oh, and guess what? You're going to be a surrogate uncle! The baby is due in six months, and I really can't wait! A muggle doctor I went to did some sort of test and says the baby will be a boy. It's so exciting!

Anyway, I was thinking, maybe you could come stay with us for Christmas? I understand completely if you'd rather stay with your friends at Hogwarts, but the offer is out there if you'd like to join me and Stephan for Christmas.

Hope you're well,

Jessie

I folded the letter back up with a smile.

"Well? What was in it?" Sirius demanded.

"She was just seeing how I am, telling me how she is, telling me I'll be a surrogate uncle in six months, and inviting me over for Christmas," I say in a passive voice. It takes a moment for it to sink in with him.

"Blimey! She's pregnant?" he asked, thankfully not yelling. I nod.

"What will you do for Christmas?" Remus asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I'd really like to see her again…but I get the feeling she'll just want to talk about…well, you know, the whole time," I say.

"Yes, because we all understand what goes through your head," Sirius scoffed. I roll my eyes.

"Pads, you really are dense sometimes," Remus said, not even looking up from his book. Sirius looked at me and then up at the ceiling, contemplating what we both knew and wouldn't say. Comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh," was all Sirius said. I rolled my eyes and continued to eat.

"You know," I said after a time. "I think I will spend Christmas with her. I haven't seen her since she got married two years ago, and who knows when I'll see her again."

"You mean you're going to abandon us here?" Sirius asked, looking at me. I glared at him. He laughed. "You know I'm just yanking you."

I shake my head as I finish my breakfast/lunch/only thing I've really eaten in two days.

"Quidditch practice tonight, right?" Sirius asks, breaking the tension. Or just randomly asking.

"Yep. Be there," I say. I drink my pumpkin juice and stand up.

"Now where are you going?" Sirius asks.

"To our dorm to get my books. I didn't grab them when I left," I explain, heading off. I see Lily standing in the doorway, talking to her friends, and I can't help smiling.

She sees me and smiles. Ever since we found out we'd be Heads together, we've been trying to be nice to each other. (Well, me not acting like I have up until this point, anyway). It's been easy enough. I have too much else on my mind.

Xx

Herbology was less than fun, simply taking notes, which Sirius did today. I tried to pay attention, I really did. But once I laid my head down on my arms, I was dead to world.

The next thing I was aware of during Herbology was a loud _bang!_ right next to my ear. I cried out in surprise and shot ramrod straight. Snickers burst forth around the greenhouse, and a slight blush appeared over my cheeks. I turned to glare at my waker, who was none other than one Lily Evans. She was smiling at me, and when she saw my glare she waggled her fingers and proceeded out the greenhouse.

"What the _bloody hell_ did she do that for?" I asked, glaring at her retreating form. Sirius was trying to hold back his laughter.

"She noticed us having a hard time getting through to you and decided to help," Peter said, covering his mouth. I fumed while gathering my books and proceeding out the door with everyone else. But of course, the professors can't get enough of me.

"Potter, a moment, if you please?" Sprout called. _No, I don't please, actually_, I thought bitterly, turning around to face my professor.

"Yes, Professor?" I said as pleasantly as I could manage.

"You're dropping in all of your classes, and we all know why," Sprout said. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "James, none of us want to see you fail just because your parents were killed."

And there it is again, folks! Even when I'm trying to ignore it, it still comes back to bother me! No wonder I'm having nightmares every other night.

"I know, professor, I'm working on it," I said. Professor Sprout didn't look convinced.

"James, just about all of the staff here saw you run out at dinner yesterday. And then you missed your first classes today. It doesn't take Dumbledore to figure out why. We've been seeing patterns with you, and we're concerned." Her gaze softened a little, along with her voice. I closed my eyes and breathed heavily.

"I appreciate your concern, professor," I said. "But my friends have been helping me deal with it, a lot."

"But that isn't going to stop the nightmares," Sprout said. I waited a moment before replying to make sure I didn't say something I'd regret later in detention.

"With all due respect, nothing is going to stop those nightmares. I'm doing the best I can," I said. And then without waiting for a response, I turned around and left, not surprised to see my friends waiting for me. Sirius clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Just wait 'til Quidditch later, mate. You can blow of some steam then," he said. I smiled. Nothing like Quidditch to cheer a Potter up.

Xx

I screamed myself hoarse at practice that night. It's not that my team was doing anything wrong; on the contrary, they did quite well. I mainly just yelled stuff like "We'll beat Slytherin easy like this!" or "Keep this up and the House Cup will be ours by Christmas!"

Needless to say, I refrained from talking the rest of the night, which drove Lily crazy during our patrol.

"What is with you tonight? You're always talking, and now you're as silent as a statue!" she exclaimed when I found another way to answer without words. She should stop asking yes or no questions if she wants an actual answer.

"I'm sorry. I yelled a lot at practice." She rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. I rolled my eyes.

"What's going on with you?" She asked after a few minutes of silence. I looked at her and raised a brow.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, last night in the Great Hall at dinner for starters. Why'd you run out like that? And then earlier, you missed morning classes, but then actually showed up for the afternoon classes…

"Well? What's going on?" she asked. I looked away from her big green eyes and didn't answer. "James, talk to me."

"It's nothing," I lied. I quickened my pace, forcing Lily to almost jog to keep up with me.

"It's not nothing. Anyone with eyes could see that," was all she said. Great, so does the whole school know that I'm falling apart?

End Chapter

_I'm so sorry about the wait! I feel like such a horrible person for making you wait so long! I was trying to wait for at least one more review though, since I only got two on the last chapter. But now I feel really guilty and won't do that ever again!_

REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Falling Again

_James POV_

The lake always looked nice in the sunlight, with the way it seemed to shimmer. For some reason, I always came out to sort my thoughts here, where I could stare into it's unending depths. It seemed to calm me down.

I felt bad about last night. I'd abandoned Lily on patrol, and it wasn't hard either. I knew the castle better than her, and I was faster. It's just…I don't want to deal with it, and everyone seems to want to make me deal with it.

I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning my forehead against my arms resting on top of my knees. I was supposed to be in class right now. But at the moment, I don't want to be around people. Not even my friends. I didn't even tell them I'd be out here. I didn't even go to breakfast.

I picked my head up and leaned back against our tree. It didn't become our tree until the middle of second year, when we finally started to jinx anyone who tried to be here. It seemed so childish, and so long ago…and so much simpler. I wish I could be back then again, back to when the main thing I was worried about was whether the prank was good enough or not.

Distantly, I heard the bell ring. Would my friends come out to try and find me? Or would they just go to their next class? What do I even want?

I banged my head against the tree, as if that would help. It didn't, in case you're wondering.

I heard someone sit down next to me, but I didn't look to see who it was. So of course I jumped when they spoke and it wasn't one of the marauders.

"You skipped class again," the unmistakable voice of Lily Evans stated. I turned to look at her in surprise.

"Are you skipping class?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"I have a free period now, so I came out to find you as a favor to Remus. He said you'd likely be out here, and if not here than on the Astronomy Tower."

Dang, Remus knows me too well. The Astronomy Tower would have been my second choice.

"Why didn't you go to class today?" Lily asked. She kept staring out at the lake.

I sighed. "I don't want to deal with it."

"With class? I doubt it could be that bad," Lily stated.

"Not with that. Class itself would have been fine. But then the professor would have called me after class to talk and I really don't want to talk. And then I'd repeat the whole process in my next class." Lily didn't respond. I turned to look at her. She had her eyes closed.

"I'm sorry, James. I've been really mean to you lately, and you're just…I'm sorry," she said. I stared at her, eyes wide. Lily Evans was apologizing, to me? Was the world ending or something?

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I never gave you any reason to be nice to me," I finally managed. She smiled slightly.

"You certainly made life interesting though," she said. Wait, is she forgiving me for my former years of…well, me-ness? And wasn't she mad at me last night? Why is she being nice now?

Come to think of it, how does Lily not have class when Remus does? They have all the same classes.

"Prongs!" Sirius's voice carried over the grounds. I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lily frown, almost with a panicked expression.

"I better go," she said, getting up and walking away. I stared after, perplexed. Sirius sat down next to me, followed by Remus and Peter around us.

"Hello? Earth to Prongs!" Sirius said, waving a hand in my face. I shook my head and focused on him.

"Sorry," I said.

"Where were you during class?" Peter asked. I looked at him sideways.

"Um…sitting here. Thought that would be obvious," I answered. He looked up at the sky and nodded. What can I say? Pete can be a little dense sometimes.

"Why were you sitting here?" Remus asked. I sighed and turned to look at him this time.

"You of all people can't figure it out?" I asked. He half-smiled.

"James, you know you're worrying everyone, right? Even Lily came out here to find you. She jumped up at the bell and practically ran out." I sighed and kneaded the palm of my hand into my forehead. Why anyone ever thinks this works, I don't know, because all I did was give myself a bigger headache.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. Sirius put a hand on my shoulder.

"You know by now that you can talk to us, right?" he asked. "If you don't, I might have to take some drastic action." I smiled.

"It's just…I don't know. I don't want to talk. I don't want to think about it, I guess, and no matter what I do, everyone just keeps bringing it up," I said quietly. I looked out at the lake again. Or what I could see of it anyway between Remus and Peter.

"Sorry mate. So…subject change then. Why did Lily leave when we came?" Sirius asked. I glared at him.

"That's a poor attempt at a subject change," Remus commented. He shrugged.

"Sorry, I had short notice," he said. I smiled. "Hey, let's go play some Quidditch. That always cheers you up," Sirius said, getting to his feet. I actually thought about it for a few moments before Sirius grabbed my right arm and pulled me to my feet, not noticing my wincing at the old injury, and continued to drag me to the pitch. Remus and Peter followed us, as usual, to make even teams. Peter hated playing for sport, but he didn't mind when we were just messing around with each other. And he was a fantastic keeper.

Xx

Remus made us go in for lunch, which everyone else was thankful for. I grimaced at the thought of food again, which for some reason was no longer appetizing to me. It's rather annoying, since I was eating just fine yesterday.

I sat there as usual and didn't even bother trying. Remus frowned at me, but I guess he wasn't about to repeat what happened the last time he tried to make me eat.

"What classes do we have this afternoon?" Peter asked between bites of food. Remus answered automatically.

"Defense and Transfiguration," he said. I smiled. Two of my best classes. Maybe I'll actually go today.

Then again, I'll have McGonagall, for the second time this week. It might be safer not to go.

"I know that look on your face Prongs," Remus said. "You can't keep cutting class as it pleases you." I sighed.

"You take all the fun out of everything," I said. He raised a brow at me.

"Doing this for fun now?" he asked. I closed my eyes and frowned, taking a moment to calm the instant anger so I didn't hurt his feelings.

"You know I'm not," I said. He sighed as well.

"Yeah. I know. But still, you have to go class now. You can disappear all you like tomorrow," Remus said. I sighed and nodded.

"Fair enough."

Xx

Having Transfiguration twice a week would be fun, one would think. Especially when it's your best subject. Add McGonagall to the mix and you usually hate one of the two classes. Add me to the mix, and I hate both classes. Though since I hate all classes at the moment, that's not really saying much, is it?

She didn't say anything to me all class, and praise Merlin she didn't even call me after class. That right there is a miracle in itself, since I am after-all in her house and she cares most for her Gryffindors. I didn't question it though, and I all but ran back up to the common room at the bell to stash my books before dinner.

I tried to eat something, I really did. I was even a little hungry for it too. But for some reason, my stomach just didn't want to accept food the way it used to. I could get a few bites down, but it just didn't taste right, and it felt like it was only going to come back up again. I gave up and pushed my plate away, revolted at this turn of events.

It didn't go unnoticed by my friends. And as I wasn't in the mood for a trip to the Hospital wing, I acted before they could.

"I'm going to go do some homework," I said, jumping up and making a quick exit. I didn't run, since I didn't want to attract attention the way I did the other night. But once I was clear of those doors I ran through the castle, letting my feet pick the destination.

I ended up on the astronomy tower. The view was amazing. The sun was only just starting to set, painting the sky in bizarre patterns of color and cloud. I rested my chin on my arms which were folded against the top of the wall.

It wouldn't be long before my friends looked for me up here. I had…maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes before they worried. I've just always enjoyed the view. Something about being high up, above the rest of the world, was just alluring to me.

And because I like it so much, something had to go wrong, because that's my life now.

Xx

A man stood outside the boundaries of Hogwarts, looking up at a specific tower, and smiled. He wore a black fedora low over his face, hiding ice blue eyes, and a simple black cloak concealed his form.

Lady Luck was certainly on his side this night, for his prey has walked right into his hands.

It was with great pleasure that the man gracefully pulled a wand out of his inner robes and aimed it at the young man now taking refuge on a tower of Hogwarts. Grinning sadistically the man lined up the tip of his wand and shot a jinx at the unsuspecting victim. It wouldn't be enough to kill him.

No, Raston wanted more revenge than simple death.

He stayed long enough to make sure his jinx made contact with its target. Then he disapparated, thinking he would have to thank his inside source.

And if it had all been a mistake and that boy on the tower wasn't his target, then that boy would just have to serve as a message for James Potter.

End Chapter


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

_Sorry this is late! I've been working on a lot of other projects! Bad excuse I know!_

Chapter 5: Rumors

_James' POV_

I noticed the jinx out of the corner of my eye, a pale yellow sort of light. It was wicked fast and making contact with my left shoulder before I was even fully aware of what was happening. The force of it flung me backwards into the wall next to the door, and I slid down till I was sitting, shocked out of my mind and in incredible pain.

It started with my shoulder, since that's where I was hit. But it was quickly spreading. And this jinx or curse or whatever was awfully close to another curse I have all too much experience with.

So in shorter words, I'm in major trouble.

I tried to stand up, but that proved fruitless as the pain had spread all around my torso now. I've suffered worse, without a doubt, but the suddenness of this attack and in my weakened state too was definitely a hindrance. And this was still pretty bad besides.

But I can't just sit here and let it get worse. So mustering up every ounce of strength I had, I forced myself to my feet. I gritted my teeth and wrenched the door open, keeping one arm wrapped around my torso, as if that could hold me together. I stumbled down the steps, wishing fervently for anyone to find me.

Well, preferably not a Slytherin. They would laugh and probably throw another hex at me, which I really didn't need at the moment.

I made it down half of the hall before I fell to my knees, gasping in pain. I only just barely kept myself from face planting by throwing a hand out to stop myself. The pain had finally spread all over, and I couldn't move for it.

This isn't as bad as the Cruciatus curse, but it's still pretty bad. It feels like I'm trapped in some eternal fire. No, a fire would be better. I could actually die then from smoke or burns or something. I don't think this will kill me.

At least I really hope not. As much as my life sucks right now, I don't actually want to die. I still need to get back at Raston and Bellatrix for winter break, and then take whatever leftover anger I have out on Voldemort himself. I can't die. I'm not allowed to die yet! I refuse!

The pain seemed to recede just a little, and I pushed myself to my feet with new resolve.

I managed about ten steps before the pain returned with a vengeance. It was stronger than before, and it completely crumbled my will. I fell to the ground, unable to catch myself, landing on my side and curling into a ball.

Through the haze of pain, I heard light laughter coming down the hall. Thank Merlin! Someone who will hopefully help! If they don't I'm automatically deducting 150 points from whatever house they're in. _That _would be a fun one to explain to people.

I half wished they wouldn't stop, just so I could.

And then I remembered the amount of unyielding pain I'm in and decided getting help was better at the moment.

I really should have thought of who would be coming up to the tower right now. For some reason, that thought never crossed my mind.

I'll give you three guesses as to who it is coming down the hall.

"James? _James!_" Their footsteps pounded against the stone floor as they came over.

"Bloody Hell, what happened?" Remus asked.

"It…it almost looks like he's under the Cruciatus Curse…but there's no one else around…" Sirius said quietly. Hands on my shoulder.

If I had trusted my voice, I would have said some jinx hit me and this was the result. And then I would have demanded they knock me out or something.

"We should take him to Madam Pomfrey," Peter suggested. There was almost no pause after that before I was lifted into the air, being half-carried, half-dragged down the hall. I tried to walk on my own, but the pain was intensifying as we went.

"He's still conscious," Remus commented.

"What?" was Sirius' automatic reply. There was only a slight disturbance in the pattern of his walking. Then it quickened.

"James? Can you tell us what happened?" Remus asked. Well, I can try. And if I end up screaming, hopefully they'll silence me or something.

"Jinxed…on tower…" was all I trusted myself in saying. That even sounded grated to my ears.

"Who?" Sirius demanded. I swallowed hard, waiting a moment before trusting myself to speak.

"Don't know…weird angle…" I managed. The pain was so much that it was about the only thing I could focus on, no matter how hard I tried otherwise.

"Weird angle?" Remus repeated. I'm sure the walk was longer, but it actually didn't seem to take that long. Time was no longer relevant to me.

I heard something crash and shatter when the doors opened, and then Madame Pomfrey fretted about. Before I knew it, I was laying down in one of the beds and she was running a diagnostic spell over me. She had me drink some potion that I didn't even question. I didn't really even taste it.

I lost consciousness soon after that.

Xx

_Third Person_

The other three Marauders stood just outside the hospital wing doors, concern etched into their faces.

"What could have happened?" Peter asked. The other two shrugged.

"He said he was jinxed, doesn't know who, and that it was a weird angle," Remus said. The other two looked over at him. Remus had a hand to his chin in thought.

"A surprise attack then. It could have been anyone," Sirius said dejectedly. Seeing James the way he had had brought back unpleasant memories.

"I think the key here is weird angle," Remus said, turning Sirius out. "Come on, let's go to the tower."

Remus took off at a fast pace, not bothering to see if the others were following. Peter did without question, casting backwards glances at Sirius. Sirius followed after a few moments, sighing.

On the tower, Remus looked around. Night had completely fallen now. "Well, whoever it was probably didn't get James on the tower. That must have been what he meant. But then, was the attack planned, or was it just random and he happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time?"

Sirius was ignoring Remus. He kept glancing at the door of the tower. "I'm gonna go back down, see if James is okay or not," Sirius said. He then proceeded to do just that.

Remus sighed. "Until James wakes up and shows us the angle, there's not much else we can do," Peter said. "Come on. Let's go back to the common room."

Remus nodded, following him after one more glance around the tower.

Xx

Like always in Hogwarts, news traveled fast. Word got out of the attack on James, and it was all the school could talk about.

And, being a school, rumors grew.

Slytherins were content to believe a Death Eater had given what James deserved in their eyes. And they were also hoping he'd be taken out of Quidditch.

Some were coming to believe that some horrible monster had infiltrated the school and James had single-handedly bested the beast but not without injuries of his own.

Most of the Gryffindor's believed that a Slytherin had tried to harm their Quidditch captain, and relations between the two houses were tenser than ever.

But no one could figure out the truth. And this fact was driving the Marauders insane. It had only been the previous night when everything happened, but it might as well have been a week ago. They were distraught and didn't know what to think.

All they could do was wait for James to wake up and tell them the story.

End Chapter

_I know this is short and I'm sorry! I'll make it up in the next chapter I promise!_

_Please Review!_


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own Harry Potter. Yet. I'm making plans…_

Chapter 6: Coming Around

_James' POV_

I woke up feeling like I was being crushed by fire. I groaned, wishing for the pleasant unconsciousness again. I heard voices around me, but I couldn't pay attention to them. Something cool went down my throat, and before I knew it I was unconscious again.

This happened again several times before I finally woke up without feeling like I was being crushed. I blinked blearily, momentarily confused as to why my vision didn't clear. I sat up, looking around as best I could. I spotted my glasses on the bedside table and hastily put them on.

I'm in the hospital wing? What happened now?

"James! You're awake!" an overly cheery voice yelled. My head whipped around to the source at the door, and I saw Sirius bounding over to me. Peter was following behind. They both seemed really tired, and Sirius had several bruises and a black eye.

"What happened to you?" I asked as Sirius sat on the edge of the bed next to me. Peter took a seat next to me. Thoughts of where Remus was fleeted through my mind.

Sirius shrugged. "You've been out for two days mate." He looked around, checked that no one else was around. "Missed a full moon," he said softly.

Well that explained a lot. I looked at the back of the hospital wing where a curtain was drawn up around a bed. Remus was likely on the other side, like usual.

"And why am I here again?" I asked. Sirius swore under his breath.

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us," Peter said. I frowned.

"The last thing I remember is not being able to eat at dinner and then going up to the astronomy tower," I said. Peter and Sirius nodded.

"We figured that was where you'd be," Peter said.

"So we went to go see if you were okay," Sirius continued. He was glaring at the floor. "You were on the ground in the hall and looked like you were in incredible pain."

"You said something about being hit with a jinx and from a weird angle," Peter added. His eyes were alight, hoping that he was being helpful.

A flash of something yellow flitted across my vision. I nodded, finally remembering.

"Yeah, it was like the jinx was shot from the ground. A real professional shot," I said. They looked up at me, and then at each other.

"Where from the grounds?" Sirius asked. I thought about it a moment, trying to picture where I had been on the tower with the trajectory of the shot. But it didn't make sense. I shook my head.

"It's almost as if…they were outside Hogwarts boundary," I said. I looked up at them, doubt clearly written on my own face. Sirius raised a brow.

"Outside of Hogwarts? That's impossible," he said. I nodded.

"I know…maybe I hit my head or something," I said. Madame Pomfrey came out from the curtain, shrieked at the sight of Sirius' black eye and other bruises (Completely ignored me) and fixed Sirius up before Sirius could even move. I swear that women has some speed spell over her!

And then she turned to check on me, and probably nearly had a heart attack. "James! Goodness! How are you feeling?" she asked, a hand on her chest.

I shrugged. "I've been better, I've been worse. When can I leave?" I answered. She glared at me.

"Young man, if you think you can just leave after what you just went through you are in for quite a rude awakening!" she said. Sirius and Peter snickered. I shrunk back a little under her intense gaze. In my defense, she was waving her wand at me when she said that. She ran a quick diagnostic spell over me. I've never been able to understand how people actually come up with a diagnostic from that. As far as I can tell, they just wave a wand, the patient glows with some blue light, the light fades, and then boom! The spell caster has an answer!

She frowned, which gave me a bad feeling. "What's wrong?" Sirius asked, apparently having caught the frown as well.

"Nothing. That's the problem," she answered. "You can't be completely normal after experiencing some variation of the Cruciatus Curse. Though we will need to talk as to why you were malnourished when you came in young man," she said, turning a glare back on me. I shrunk back into the pillows, ducking my head and giving a sheepish smile.

My stomach grumbled then, and Sirius and Peter burst out laughing. I joined in after seeing Madam Pomfrey crack a smile.

We all heard a groan come from the back, silencing us all instantly. Madame Pomfrey bustled away quickly. Sirius and I took one look at each other, then looked back at the curtain.

"Remus?" we called out. I pushed off the covers and stood up.

"Get back in that bed James Potter!" Madame Pomfrey bellowed. I was stunned into sitting.

Sirius ended up rolling on the floor in laughter. "You…you should have…should have seen your face!" Sirius cackled.

I rolled my eyes, frowning.

"What's going on?" I heard Remus ask. Madame Pomfrey mumbled something, and there was a pause before she drew back the curtain so we could see each other.

"Morning Moony," I said, automatically standing up to walk over.

"James Potter if you do not get back in that bed I'm going to bind you to it!" Madame Pomfrey screeched. Again, I was stunned into sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

Sirius, who had just been recovering from his bout on the floor, was sent right back into it, his howls of laughter filling the wing.

Remus cracked a smile. He looked awful, with deep purple bruises covering half of his face and his right arm. And that's what I can see of him. I really don't want to know how bad the rest of him is. I kind of want to just go hurt whatever did this to him.

"Good to see you up," Remus said. I smiled.

"Same to you, mate," I replied. Madame Pomfrey gave him some potions to drink before coming back over to me. He cringed as the first one went down.

"Now, I want to know why you were malnourished when you came in two days ago," she said, fixing me a stern gaze. She had her hands on her hips and everything.

I let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, you see…um…" How do I explain this? I can't just outright admit that I've been being a prick about my parents' death.

"He's been distraught about his parents and usually doesn't eat when he is," Remus supplied. There we go! Much easier to have someone else say it!

Madame Pomfrey's gaze lightened for the tiniest moment before returning ten-fold. "That is no excuse to not take care of yourself young man! You think they died just so you could do the same? You better pull yourself together!"

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped a little as my head tilted slowly sideways. Madame Pomfrey…was yelling at me? And not because of something I did in Quidditch?

It took a few moments for me to figure out how my voice worked again. "I know," was all I could say.

"No, you don't know. If you knew, then you wouldn't be the depressed young man sitting in front of me," Madame Pomfrey said. I nodded dumbly and more than a little freaked out. She sighed. "You may go down to dinner when the time is ready. Sirius, Peter, I expect you to make sure he eats a full plate, understood?" she asked, rounding on my friends. They jumped in surprised and nodded quickly.

"Oh yeah, we'll make sure he eats," Peter said, doing anything to placate her. I don't blame him.

"Come back after dinner James. I want to see how you're doing then and if there are any side effects," Madame Pomfrey said, returning to her office. My head was tilted all the way to my shoulder, a look of complete confusion written all over my face.

"What…just happened?" I asked. The others all started laughing again, even Remus.

"I think she just told you to get off your ass and act like the James we know," Remus said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Sirius was still in hysterics on the floor.

I nodded again, still staring at Madam Pomfrey's closed door.

Peter looked at his watch. "Dinner is in twenty minutes. Do you want to head down now?"

I shake my head quickly to clear it of what just happened. "Yeah. Yeah lets go down now," I said, standing up. I glanced back at Pomfrey's door, completely expecting her to yell at me again. "Quickly, before she comes back!"

I ran out of the hospital wing laughing. Sirius and Peter followed, their heads spinning a little. I was in fresh clothes already, courtesy of my friends and Pomfrey no doubt, so I didn't worry about going back to Gryffindor Tower. Instead, I jumped on the banister and slid down.

"James!" Peter called out. I had already had a head start on them before. Only Sirius would follow me this way though, so Peter would unfortunately be left behind.

I had laughed in a way I haven't for a long time: Carefree and jubilant. I raced down the banister, jumping off at the bottom and successfully landing on my feet. I turned around to see Sirius not too far behind me, so I moved over so I didn't get hit. He landed next to me and stared at me, catching his breath. I had a huge smile on my face.

"I don't know whether to interrogate you right now or just go along with it," he said. I laughed and my stomach growled. Peter was running down the last flight of stairs. We waited for him before entering the Great Hall. A lot of people were already down here and the three of us sat in our usual seats.

Sirius and Peter started filling me in on everything I had missed in the last two days, and while he did, Lily Evans and her friends, Mary Macdonald, Alice something-or-other, and Marlene McKinnon sat down next to us. Sirius stopped mid-sentence in surprise.

"Hey boys," Alice said. "Nice to see you up and about James."

"Thanks…"I said a little uncertainly.

"You have to tell us what happened!" Mary exclaimed. "Did you really fight off a Death Eater attack to protect the school?"

"Of course not!" Marlene said, glaring at Mary. "I told you already that he found some age-old creature in the dungeons that he fought throughout the whole school! Without a wand!"

I started laughing. How crushing it would be when I dismissed all these tales of grandeur with the mundane truth.

"I told you three that nothing like that had happened," Lily said. She was sitting right next to me, but currently giving her friends a triumphant look.

"So what did happen?" Alice asked. I heard other people around us go quiet, waiting to hear which rumor was true.

"Well," I started. I was at least going to make this sound interesting, since it really wasn't. "I was up on the Astronomy Tower, clearing my head with some fresh air, you know?" I said. Three of them nodded intently, their eyes wide with anticipation. "When all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I'm hit with a jinx." They gasp. "I stumble back to the wall in surprise. I'm in no condition to fight, so I make my way downstairs to the hall where my friends find me and take me to the hospital wing."

The food arrives then, right on time. I take a forkful not even caring what it is. Sirius and Peter are struggling to hold in laughter at the girls' expressions. They haven't noticed the food yet and are waiting for me to continue.

"Well? What happened after that?" Mary asked. I shrugged.

"Nothing. They brought me to the hospital wing where I was unconscious until about thirty minutes ago."

"That's it?" Alice exclaimed. Sirius and Peter burst out laughing at their crestfallen expressions. I smiled too.

"That's it. Someone hit me with a surprise attack. End of story," I said. They pouted.

"Wow. Even I was expecting something a little better than that," Lily commented, finally dishing some food onto her plate. Marlene's face lifted.

"Don't you see? There's a conspiracy here! Who would attack James by surprise like that? And why?" she asked. I looked at Sirius and Peter, who now sobered up. The smile slowly fell from my face.

"Only about half the school," Lily commented. "I mean, how many Slytherins are wishing they had done it? And you have plenty of enemies from Quidditch."

Actually, most people on opposing teams saw me as a challenge and looked forward to playing our team so they could prove they were better (Which had yet to happen). They wouldn't want to take me out of the game, and if they did, they would have done it sooner to an actual game. We're still two weeks away from opening game.

Slytherins, however, are an unending amount of enemies. Especially seventh years. But the angle of the shot was all wrong for it to have been someone in the school…Or had it been? Had whoever shot the jinx been someone on the ground, but still on Hogwarts grounds?

"James? Earth to James?" Sirius said. I shook my head.

"Sorry. What?" I asked. He looked at me weird.

"You have a theory," he stated. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Not now," I said. He shrugged and shoved another mouthful of food into his mouth. I did the same. I have no clue what I'm actually eating, as I don't really care right now, but it tastes delicious.

"So…" Alice started. She looked at Lily as she continued. "Lily's been wondering if you were going to ask her out again. She's missed your stalking her."

I nearly choked on whatever is in my mouth. Lily's face turned as red as her hair.

"Alice!" she hissed.

"Breath Prongs!" Sirius said. Peter, sitting next to me as well, clapped me on the back. I managed to swallow what was in my mouth and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Bad timing on my part," Alice said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry about that."

I took a few deep breaths. "S'okay," I said. I wiped my face with my napkin.

"Well? Are you going to answer the question?" Mary asked. I looked sideways at Lily. She was avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"No, I don't think I will answer that," I decided. Much more fun to mess with their minds. And I'll give Lily an actual answer on Head rounds.

Which are tonight.

I think.

"Hey, Lily?" She looked up at me, annoyance ready to flash across her face. "Do we have Head rounds tonight?" Her face softened and turned red again.

"Yeah." She looked away.

"He's so going to ask you out during rounds," Marlene said matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes.

"Right, because it's impossible that since I've been unconscious for the last two days I just genuinely didn't know," I said sarcastically. Sirius laughed while Mary and Alice giggled.

"I'm going to go get some studying in before rounds," Lily said, picking up her bag and leaving the table without another word. Her face had still been red when she left.

We finished the rest of our meal, making the occasional joke and just having an all-around good time.

Not once did I think of how my life sucked. I only thought that this moment, right here, was pretty blissful, and I didn't want it to end.

But end it did, and I went back up the Hospital Wing so Madame Pomfrey could do what she does. She seemed satisfied that I'd eaten enough and ordered Sirius and Remus (who was being discharged that night) to bring me back in two days to make sure I was still eating.

And then we all started back for the Common Room, relating everything that Remus had missed at dinner to him. Lily was waiting outside to start rounds. I already had my wand, so I told my friends I'd see them later and left again with Lily.

End chapter

_This was the best place I could leave the chapter without it being too short! I'll try not to make you wait too long before adding in their Rounds!_

_Please review! _


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, blah, blah, blah. Stop rubbing it in._

Chapter 7: Saying Yes

_James' POV_

Lily and I walked down the first hallway in silence. Right when we were rounding the first corner did she finally speak.

"So…about what happened at dinner, with Alice and everything…I'm sorry about that," she said. I opened my mouth in protest, but she kept going. "I mean, you've been dealing with a lot for awhile now and obviously you wouldn't be thinking of girls all the time and so when I voiced to her that you had yet to ask me out again this year she jumped to conclusions about you and me-"

"Lily?" I tried to interrupt. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

"-Which are nothing but rumors created by the students by the way. I mean, you know by now how I feel about going out with you-"

"Lily?"

"-And you weren't even asking me out all that much last year, so it's probably safe to say that you moved on, which is good and all-"

"Lily!" That girl just does not stop!

"-Since I've made it perfectly clear that I don't fancy you. How can I when we're hardly even friends, right? It's just I noticed something, pointed it out-"

"Lily!"

"-And Alice had to go jumping to conclusions. That's it," she finally finished. I raised a brow at her, but this time kept my mouth shut.

She looked over at me after a few minutes.

"Well? Are you going to say anything?" she asked.

"You mean you'll finally let me?" I retorted. We rounded the second corner, heading in the direction of the Astronomy Tower like always.

She glared at me. I smiled.

"I don't really see why you're apologizing. If that's what all that rambling was, anyway. Do you think you could shorten that to simpler terms?" I asked. She rolled her eyes.

"I was apologizing for Alice springing that question on you about whether you were going to ask me out again or not. It wasn't fair of her when you've been dealing with everything you've been dealing with," Lily said.

"Oh, right," I said. I had actually forgotten about that. A lot of good stuff had happened after she ran out. "Has it really been bugging you that much?" I asked, suddenly concerned. And confused. Part of my answer had been because I wasn't sure what the answer was myself.

"Merlin why did I have to open my mouth?" Lily asked herself quietly. I looked down at her sideways. Her face was as red as her hair. Okay. Now I'm really confused. I stepped out in front of her, effectively stopping our walking and making her look at me.

"Lily? What's going on?" I asked. Her face, if possible, became even redder. She looked down at the floor. I gently lifted her chin to look at me. "Can you please explain what is going on? I'm a little lost here."

She bit her lower lip and looked up at me again. "Can we forget about this, please?" she asked. I frowned.

"Is everything okay? You know you can tell me anything. I'm very good at keeping secrets," I said. I thought wryly of Remus and smiled.

She shook her head and stepped around me. "Forget it," she said. I frowned and followed her. Apparently everything was not okay with Miss Mood-swing.

We walked in silence for a few halls, me keeping a few paces behind her to give her some time to cool down.

"So…what changed with you?" she asked suddenly as we opened the door at the base of the Astronomy Tower.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I started climbing the stairs.

"Well, you were all depressed and stuff, and now you seem like you're back to normal," Lily clarified. I took a deep breath.

"When that jinx hit me…I almost wanted everything to end, right there. But then, something clicked that if everything for me ended now, then I wouldn't be able to take my revenge on Bellatrix and Raston for what happened over break last year," I said. She didn't say anything. "And well, when the school nurse starts yelling at you saying your parents didn't die so you could follow suit something else clicks," I added.

Lily laughed as we walked out to the tower. "Did Madame Pomfrey really start yelling at you?"

I nodded. "I can't make something like that up. It's just too good." She shook her head. I leaned against the edge of the parapet, much the same way I had the other night. Speaking of which…

I looked down to where I thought the jinx had come from and studied the area. From the angle of the shot…it definitely came from outside school bounds. There's just no other way to achieve that angle.

But that means it wasn't a student who attacked me…

"James? Whatcha thinking about?" Lily asked, leaning against the wall next to me.

"It wasn't a student who attacked me," I stated, still looking at where I thought the jinx had come from. My hand rubbed my shoulder, feeling a phantom of the pain.

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"The angle…it came from off the grounds. I'm sure of it," I said. Lily frowned.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. Why don't we go finish rounds?" she suggested, taking my arm to try pulling me. I went along reluctantly. The next hour was pretty much silence. Lily knew I was too wrapped up in my thoughts for conversation. The only talking I did was when we found couples making out and had to give them detention. And even then I was mainly just backing Lily up.

Who would be trying to hurt me from off the grounds? And how would they have known it's me? There's no way they could see who I was from where they were. So…was I the intended target, or just some bloke at the wrong place at the wrong time?

I rubbed my shoulder again, feeling the phantom pain. It wasn't really there, but I remembered what it felt like all too well. It was so close to the way the Cruciatus Curse felt…

I shook my head. I am not allowed to think of last winter. If I do, then I'll likely end up in a ball in some corner having a panic attack, and that is not something I want Lily to see. Thank Merlin she and Remus were able to save me and Sirius, otherwise I wouldn't be here now. I think even if they had come a few minutes later it might have been too late for me.

But last year…well I can understand why Remus would came after us. We're friends, it's not out of the ordinary. But Lily…Lily wanted nothing more than to hex me every chance she got last year, yet she was part of the rescue team. Remus had said he never got a straight answer from her when he asked her why.

"Hey, Lily?" I asked. She looked up at me, surprised. "Last year, why did you come save me and Sirius?" I asked. She looked down quickly. We walked a few more minutes in silence.

"I don't know," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"There has to have been some reason you felt the need to risk your life for mine and Sirius' when you hate us," I prompted.

"That's just it though!" she exploded. I stopped in surprise. "I've never hated you! I hated what you did to Severus and all those other kids and how you never had to try to get good grades! But I never hated you yourself! Most of your pranks were bloody brilliant and really creative and required a skill level far past our own!"

She was facing me now, her face red from anger and tears threatening to fall down her face. I was stunned speechless. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to figure out what to say.

She started walking again, and it took me a few moments to figure out how to do the same.

Before I could say anything, she spoke up again, much quieter. "I guess…last year…I just didn't want to try and live in a Hogwarts without you and Sirius. You're part of this school. You two gone was like a Hogwarts without grades. It just wasn't right."

"Are you admitting you like us?" I asked, incredulous. "As friends, of course," I amended quickly.

"In a way, I suppose," Lily said, looking determinedly at the wall across from me. This would be the perfect time to ask her out. But I have a feeling she'll just turn me down again. But maybe…It can't hurt to try, right?

Well, with Lily Evans it could always hurt to try. But I'm going to try anyway and hope I can run faster still. Have to try and do it tactfully…

"When's the next Hogsmeade trip?" I asked in what I hoped is a casual voice.

"November 2," she responded. Something else was in her voice, but I don't know what.

"Would you be interesting in going with me?" I asked. My mouth was dry. She hesitated before answering, so long I was beginning to think she wasn't going to.

"I'd like that," she said. I stopped in surprise. She turned around to look a me, a smile on her face. "On one condition though."

Uh oh. I hate her conditions. They usually involve me in some sort of pain.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You can't be all depressed again. You are a much better person when you're happy," she said. I started laughing.

"Yes ma'am," I said. I started walking again. I couldn't get the goofy smile off my face, and I didn't really want to.

She said yes!

I have got to be the happiest guy in Hogwarts right now!

We talked about nothing of importance for the rest of rounds, going over how she hates cold weather which is a shame because Quidditch is played best in the cold. She mentioned how she liked watching Quidditch but hated playing, though her friends dragged her out every now and again to play. (I was surprised too). She said her favorite position when she had to play was seeker because it wasn't involved in the rest of the game. But since she and her friends usually played two on two they just played using a quaffle and didn't have a keeper.

Me, being the Quidditch fanatic I am, immediately suggested my friends play with hers one day for a much more interesting match. She, being Lily Evans, readily agreed and suggested Friday night. Me, being James Potter, agreed to the date and wished we could do it tomorrow.

And that took us right to the portrait hole. She gave the password (Hippogriff), and we parted inside to our friends separate tables. Peter was struggling with homework, Sirius was daydreaming off into the distance (probably thinking of girls) and Remus was reading a book, his work likely already finished. I sat down and waited again. They didn't seem to notice.

I am not waiting ten minutes again to tell them everything.

"Hey, guess who?" I said. Remus looked up briefly before closing his book. Peter was too engrossed in his essay and I was not going to bother him from that. Sirius…I just pushed him off his chair.

"Wha…what was that for?" he asked, climbing back onto his chair.

"It's really annoying when friends don't notice when you sit down," I stated. Remus smiled. Sirius pouted. I just smiled.

"You seem way too happy," Sirius remarked.

"Well I have good reason to be," I said. He raised a brow. "We have a friendly Quidditch match between Evans and her mates on Friday," I started. Sirius cheered.

"Excellent! I've been wanting to go up against them!" he said. I went on as if uninterrupted.

"…and Lily finally agreed to go out with me to the next Hogsmeade trip." Sirius deadpanned. Remus raised his brow.

"You sure you're not delirious now?" Remus asked. I glared at him. "It may be a side-effect of whatever jinx hit you."

"No, it's not a delusion. It really happened! Lily said yes!"

"You should have just stopped at Quidditch, mate," Sirius said. I turned my glare to him. He held up his hands in defense.

"At least now he won't go on an on about her," Peter squeaked. We all turned to him, surprised that he knew anything of what was going on.

"Wormtail brings up an excellent point," Remus said. I glared at him again. He shrugged. "You bring this upon yourself."

I rolled my eyes. Not even they could bring me down right now, because Lily said yes!

End Chapter

_I toyed with the idea of James and Lily all chapter, but decided to go with it. I hope it doesn't seem like I did it too soon. I was trying not to rush it, but that's hard to do when there is no insight into Lily's thoughts. Still, I thought it went pretty good. But I'm not here to judge, that's your job! _

_Please leave a review! _


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter._

_I apologize now if the prank is lame. I don't have high expectations of it. I'm just trying to keep them in character._

Chapter 8: Struck Again

_James' POV_

We went down to breakfast the next morning as if it were any other morning. The smell of eggs and bacon and sausage wafted up through the stairs and watered our appetites. My euphoria had lasted through the night and I was still in a pretty good mood now, though one class would probably change that. Until then I was in a state of bliss, which was only going to get better during breakfast.

See, in light of my 'return', as Sirius had put it, (I don't understand where he thinks I've been), the Marauders had set up a little surprise for breakfast. This is probably the only reason we all woke up relatively easily this morning.

And guess what? I didn't have any nightmares!

So I was in a very cheery mood as we entered the great hall. Of course, nothing was wrong yet. That would make it too obvious and people would be able to fix it quickly.

We all sat down at our table and started eating quickly, since we know what's going to happen. The girls came over and joined us about five minutes later, Lily sitting next to me. Her friends scrutinized me. I swallowed a large hunk of food.

"Can I help you?" I asked. I bit into my toast.

"What spell did you put her under?" Alice asked. Lily rolled her eyes next to me. I raised a brow and took another bite of toast.

"For the last time Alice, I'm not under any spell. I agreed to this under my own will," Lily said. Agreed to what? Sitting next to me?

Alice shook her head. "No, you couldn't have. You hate Potter, there's no way you'd go willingly with him to Hogsmeade."

Ohhhhh. That's what this is about.

I put my toast down. "Honestly, Alice, I'm just as surprised as you. Elated that she agreed, but surprised nonetheless."

"So, are you two a couple now?" Mary asked. Sirius spit out the pumpkin juice he'd been sipping, spewing poor Peter with the backwash.

"Say no Prongs!" he said. We all looked at him quizzically. "What?"

I shook my head an turned back to Lily's friends. "That depends on what Lily says," I said, choosing the safest route to go with. Her friends all turned to her. I picked up my toast again and checked my watch.

"I said it depended on you," Lily said through gritted teeth. I paused in my chewing, then remembered to swallow.

"Then we'll have to discuss it later and make sure not to tell them," I answered. Lily cracked up, Alice's jaw dropped, and the others groaned.

"Say no!" Sirius whispered in my ear. I turned to glare at him.

"_Why_ would I say that?" I asked him. He narrowed his eyes at me. I saw Remus check his watch from the corner of my eye and saw him smile. I looked at my own.

Twenty seconds.

This is going to be awesome.

I drank the rest of my pumpkin juice quickly, knowing that is not something I'll be able to acquire when the spell goes off.

There was a loud bang, followed by many shorter ones. And then, ever so slowly, we started lifting into the air. Remus, Peter, Sirius, and I all shared smiles with one another. This was a spell we'd been trying to do for years and had finally perfected last year. We just hadn't had an opportunity to use it until now.

People started to shriek as they realized what was happening. I was thinking: _The Marauder's have struck again!_

The food was floating into the air faster than the people. Lily actually grabbed my arm in surprise, nearly cutting off circulation.

"Did you do this?" she asked, her voice a few octaves higher than normal.

"Who else?" Sirius scoffed. "You really think anyone else in this school is brilliant enough to create an anti-gravity spell?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, there are plenty of people alright, just none _insane_ enough to do it!" Alice said, holding on to the closest thing at hand, which just happened to be Remus. And he wasn't particularly enjoying the fact.

"Really, Alice, everything is fine! You can let go of me," he said. He tried to pry her hands off of his arm. She just gripped tighter.

"Until Frank gets here, _I'm not letting go!_" she said. I laughed at his misfortune.

"Moony! You should be taking advantage of this opportunity! You've got a girl holding onto you!" Sirius said. I rolled my eyes again.

"When does this wear off?" Lily asked. I thought about it a moment.

"About an hour. Don't worry, it'll lower us down gently," I said. She nodded.

I looked around and noticed some of the students taking advantage of this. Many of the younger students were swimming through the air and flipping about and having an altogether good time. Some of the, uh…immature guys, I'll say, were taking full advantage of the girl's dress code. And I'll leave it at that.

Some people who had wandered in right before the spell took effect and were therefore still hungry, were doing their best to eat in the zero-gravity. The not-so-bright-ones actually tried to pour syrup. Those poor fools.

"How did you do this? You never said any spell," Marlene said. She seemed perfectly at ease in the lack of gravity.

"We set it up last night in the Maruader's Time Box," Sirius said. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, accidentally flipping instead of looking suave.

"The what?" Alice asked.

"Maruader's Time Box. Invented third year. Contains a spell until a set time before activating said spell," I said. They all looked at us, clearly impressed.

"That could be so dangerous in the wrong hands," Mary said. Marlene rolled her eyes.

"It's _already _in the wrong hands," she said. Sirius, having now regained an upright position, put a hand over his heard dramatically.

"Your words wound me!"

"Get over it, drama queen," Lily said. She still had a tight grip on my arm, but she seemed to be relaxing a bit and leaning into me, though what good that'll do I've no idea.

If I weren't on my best behavior with her right now, I'd take her for a joyride in this zero-gravity atmosphere. But I really don't want to incur the wrath of Lily Evans, especially when she FINALLY SAID YES! It still makes me really happy just thinking about it.

Oh Merlin, wait until Mom and Dad find out that…right. They won't be finding out. Their decimated corpses are buried in the cemetery.

Sirius pushed my shoulder, sending me and Lily flipping through the air. She instinctively wrapped an arm around my torso to steady herself, though it wasn't very effective.

It took all our will-power to stop flipping and then return to an upright position. The movement had knocked us to the Ravenclaw table, and it was like swimming through jell-o to get back to Gryffindor.

"What was that for?" I asked Sirius angrily. He shrugged.

"You looked like you were getting depressed and needed some fun. So I gave you a free acrobat lesson," Sirius said. I shook my head.

"Did you have to include me in it?" Lily asked. Sirius shrugged again.

"It was a price I was willing to pay," he said. She narrowed her eyes at him. I grabbed Sirius and put him between me and Lily. If she wants to attack him, I'm not getting in the way! "You traitor!" Sirius yelled at me.

Lily pushed down on his head, knocking him all the way down to the table through the food.

"Noooo!" he screamed. He pulled a hand away from his hair. "You got syrup in my hair!"

That made us double over laughing. Sirius propelled himself up to us and pushed Lily again, but she regained herself quickly. She was glaring at Sirius so hard I'm fully expecting stunning spells to burst from them at any time.

The two of them kept at it, knocking each other around in the air until the hour was up and we all drifted safely down to the ground. Groans could be heard around the room.

"Students, please report to your first class! The schedule shall proceed as normal!" Dumbledore called. He had a twinkle in his eyes behind the half-moon spectacles. I smiled at my friends; they were smiling back. Dumbledore enjoyed our pranks.

Xx

Lily found me in the common later and asked if we could talk. I shrugged and said sure. We went out to the hall and just started wandering the castle.

"So…what exactly is our status?" she asked in a nervous voice. I took a deep breath.

"Well, I think by now you should now what I'd like it to be. But what would you like it to be?" I asked her. She blushed and bit her lower lip.

She didn't answer me. I put a hand on her shoulder and stopped walking, forcing her to stop as well. I turned her so we were facing.

"Lily? What would you like our status to be?" She wouldn't meet my gaze.

"It's just…after all these years…it's hard to actually admit that I'm going out with you."

I mulled that over. In ways, it made sense. But it didn't answer the question. So I decided to ask her straight out.

"Lily, do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Now she did meet my gaze. Her cheeks were turning a light pink, and she was trying really hard not to smile. She nodded.

"Yes."

My face split into a grin. I probably should have waited, but I leaned down and captured her lips in my own. I put a hand behind her neck and a hand on her waist. She put her hands behind my neck.

She pulled away, smiling and out of breath.

Xx

Friday was chilly and pretty windy, not the ideal conditions for a friendly Quidditch game, but we would make do. Sirius and I had our own brooms of course, but since none of the others did and we figured it wouldn't be fair, we were on school brooms as well.

The first match we would play against the girls was the first to one hundred points. Since there were only four to a team, we had one keeper, one beater, and two chasers. For this round.

I was playing chaser with Remus; Sirius was a beater (of course); Peter was our keeper. Alice was their beater (Which scared me); Marlene and Lily were chasers; Mary was their keeper.

It would be an interesting match, to say the least.

I got the quaffle first and made a quick pass to Remus, zooming down the field. He tired to pass it back but it was intercepted by Lily who held onto it and made for our goals. I zeroed in on her and tried to grab the quaffle, but she passed to Marlene behind her as soon as I reached for it. The throw was high, sailing right over her head to a waiting Remus. All four of us wheeled on our brooms and headed for the goal posts. Marlene tried to take the quaffle from Moony but he did a fancy spin move around her. He pulled a very convincing feint against Mary that would have fooled me and gave us the first point.

Sirius and Alice pretty much played a version of catch with each other the whole time.

We scored the next two goals; Lily aimed for Peter, scaring him out of the way, and made their first goal. Alice nearly knocked me off the broom with a bludger. Thank Merlin Sirius told me to duck. Marlene completed their second goal. I shot five more shots before making one in. (Mary was _that_ good of a keeper).

Remus and I passed the quaffle successively up the field, confusing Mary as to which one of us would shoot. Lily tried to intercept but we passed around her. Alice aimed the bludger at the quaffle, only managing to knock the quaffle slightly off course. Remus still caught my pass. He scored the fourth goal for us.

Lily and Marlene scored another goal. Sirius tried to knock Lily off her broom. I glared at him, wishing slightly that Alice would knock _him_ off his broom. I scored another goal; Remus scored a sixth. Lily scored two more goals for them. Remus was hit by a bludger and sent careening through the air. He managed to right himself, but had dropped the quaffle. Marlene had gained possession of it. She made a huge pass to Lily who was waiting by the goals (when did she get there?) and Lily scored their sixth goal, tying the game.

"Come on James, don't let your girlfriend win!" Sirius yelled as we started again. I rolled my eyes and met Alice's gaze. I jerked my head at Sirius. She smiled and nodded.

As I headed for the goal with the quaffle Alice unseated Sirius from his broom with a well aimed bludger. But, being the nice girl she is, she saved him from a painful demise and lowered him to the ground gently. Until he was ten feet then she let him drop on his own.

"Thanks!" I called out to her. She saluted me and took to the air.

"James you traitor!" Sirius yelled. He picked up his broom and kicked off into the air again. I laughed and continued my quest for our seventh goal, and succeeded.

By the end, the final score was 100-90, in favor of the Marauders. (Who else?)

"That was fun," I said as we all regrouped on the ground.

"Close game," Remus added. He rubbed his arm where the bludger had hit him.

"That didn't hurt too bad, did it?" Alice asked. He shook his head.

"Please, when you're friends with James and Sirius you get used to being hurt. I've had much worse from a bludger," he said. We smiled.

"We need to do this again," Lily said. "But next time we'll mix up the teams."

"Excellent," I said. She walked over to me and I put an arm around her shoulder. She was shivering. "Are you cold?"

"Only a little," she shrugged. I frowned and chaffed her arm.

"Let's go inside then and warm up by the Gryffindor fire," I suggested. Mary's jaw dropped in mock surprise.

"You mean you'll actually share your seats by the fire?" she asked sarcastically.

"It pains us to do so," Sirius said. He started the walk up to the castle and the rest of us automatically followed. I kept my arm around Lily's shoulders the entire way.

It had been a great day. And I hadn't thought about my parents once.

End Chapter

_His life is turning around! So you know something bad has to happen, right! Question is…what will happen? _

_Only I know! Review and I'll update!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter. Sigh._

Chapter 9: A Hogsmeade Day

_James' POV_

I don't get nervous. Ever. It's just a fact of life. I can go anywhere without being nervous. (And last winter I was _scared for my life_, not nervous. There's a distinction.)

But have the girl of my dreams finally agree to go on a date with me and then have said date arrive, well…I was nervous I hadn't showered enough, and I'd already had three.

Yeah, I'm nervous.

"What if she's just playing with me?" I asked. I'd been awake for four hours, and we were leaving for Hogsmeade in fifteen minutes.

Sirius sighed and put his face in his hands.

"Mate, after four years, she wouldn't say yes if she was playing with you," Sirius said. I frowned, looking myself over in the mirror. I just didn't seem good enough….

"What if she doesn't come?" I ask. Sirius groaned.

"Moony! Can I please strangle him?" he asked. Remus looked up from his book. He shrugged.

"It would get him to stop asking 'what if's'," he agreed. I gaped at him.

"Moony! You'd let him strangle me?"

He gave me a pointed look. "At the moment, yes. If you'd _shut up_, I'd reconsider." He went back to his book. I gaped at his reflection in the mirror.

"You're not going to know unless you just trust Lily," Peter said. I frowned again. "She's been hanging out with you all week. What are you freaking out about?"

I thought about it. "It's just…after all this time…what made her change her mind? Why did she finally say yes? And can her mind easily change again?"

I looked myself in the eye in the mirror. What changed?

Xx

Lily and I took a carriage by ourselves to Hogsmeade. It wasn't too bad out; cold enough to need a jacket, but warm enough where you didn't notice. Lily had dressed casually in jeans and a v-neck blue shirt. She had a blue headband keeping her hair back.

"Where would you like to go?" I asked her. My nerves had calmed down a little, but I was still wound pretty tight.

She thought about it for a few moments. "Let's go to Honeydukes," she said. "And then head over to the Three Broomsticks?"

"Sounds good," I said. I automatically put an arm around her, the way I'd been doing all week. She leaned into my side, the way she'd been doing all week.

Walking along, she looked up at me, confused I think. I raised a brow. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"…no," she hesitated. We kept walking. I shrugged it off.

Honeydukes was crowded and smelled of sugar and chocolate. Lily insisted on paying for her own purchases, and I let her. I bought a few chocolate frogs.

We moved onto the Three Broomsticks, where I ordered us some butterbeers. We had a table to ourselves in the back of the smoky room where we were able to watch everyone.

Lily sat across from me, evaluating me. I raised a brow again.

"What's wrong?" she asked. I raised the other brow.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Rosmerta, a cute waitress (that I was _not_ paying attention to) brought us our butterbeers.

"You've been tense all day, like you're nervous, and I can't figure out why."

Dang, she had picked up on that. She really is smart. And beautiful. And forgiving. And-I'll stop there and save you a page of reading.

I shrugged. She frowned.

"James, talk to me. What's wrong? What are you so nervous about?" she persisted.

I took a sip of my butterbeer. "Nothing. I'm never nervous."

She narrowed her eyes. "James, you're lying."

That was it. No 'but you've been tense all day'. No 'not even before a Quidditch match?'. Just a flat out statement 'you're lying'.

"How can you tell?" I asked, sipping more at my butterbeer. It made a good cover. She raised a brow.

"You don't deny it?" she asked. I mentally cursed myself for falling for her bluff. I'd basically admitted that yes, I was nervous. But she hadn't seemed doubtful.

"What if I don't?" I asked. She sipped her butterbeer.

"Then you please explain why you're nervous?" she asked. Her voice had gone from stern and demeaning to sweet and innocent.

That better not become a habit.

I sighed I rubbed my forehead. "I just…don't understand," I said. She raised a brow again. Our butterbeers were forgotten in front of us.

"Don't understand what?" she prompted. I hesitated.

"Why you finally said yes," I admitted. "What changed?"

Her face held nothing but surprise. "You. You changed."

What kind of BS answer was that?

She sighed. "Listen, James…When you first asked me out four years ago, you were an arrogant, self-centered, picking-on-those-weaker-than-you jerk. Now, you help whoever you can, prefer to think of others first, and _prevent_ people from picking on others."

I nodded. Truth was I now preferred to think of others because I didn't want to focus on my problems. I guess the habit had ingrained itself when the depression was worse.

"You've done a complete one-eighty from the fourteen year old boy who asked me out in fourth year," she continued softly. I looked up and met her emerald eyes. "Now, you seem more like a man I can be with."

She said it so quietly I wasn't sure I'd heard it. But I'd seen her lips move, saw the blush creeping onto her face. She looked away. I leaned over the table and turned her head to face me again. I was smiling softly.

"Let's see if I can keep it that way," I whispered before kissing her.

Xx

Lily and I decided to walk back to Hogwarts instead of use the readily available carriages. We held hands and joked about nothing all that important. I liked getting to know this side of her. It made her even better. We clicked. And as cliché as this is, it felt like I had found my soul mate.

Well, rephrasing. My soul mate had finally agreed to go out with me. I'd found her years ago.

I heard footsteps behind us, quick ones. I looked back, and froze. The man following us did as well. He had a fedora pulled low over his face. I could still make out several scars on his face.

Lily stopped, perplexed at why I had stopped. "James?" She looked back and saw the man. "Do you know him?"

The man smiled, sending shivers down my spine. It was a cold, redoubtable smile. One that I was all too familiar with. For awhile, it had belonged to one of the stars in my nightmares.

"You should have died when you had the chance," he said in a cold, gravely voice. It grated against my ears. I locked my jaw defiantly.

"James?" Lily asked.

The man looked up, revealing his cold as ice blue eyes. Part of me had hoped, _prayed_, it wasn't true, that he wasn't really standing in front of me right now. The rest of me was thinking: _I can finally kill this bastard._

"Raston," I whispered. Lily kept glancing back and forth between us.

"James? What's going on?" she asked, fear starting to creep into her voice.

"Lily, run up to the castle," I told her. I didn't even have to look at her to know that her eyes hardened defiantly.

"I'm not a distressing damsel, James. I can handle myself."

"You heard her," Raston said, forming his words slowly. "She can handle herself." His eyes flickered over to her, and he reached inside his trench coat.

I had a flashback of when he interrogated me and Sirius. He had hurt me in order to hurt Sirius. He was likely about to use the same tactic here.

I stepped in front of Lily, simultaneously drawing my wand. His was already out, pointing at us. He seemed confused at my wand. I smiled.

"What's the matter? Not used to your victims being able to fight back?" I asked. "Makes the fight a little fairer, don't you think?" He grit his teeth.

"I can still beat you," he said. He fired a nonverbal hex, a pale yellow beam shooting at us. I dove to the ground, dragging Lily with me. As my shoulder made contact with the ground, I fired off a hex of my own. Lily threw her own into the mix. Whether any of ours were nonverbal or not, I couldn't tell. The matter was inconsequential to rest of this mess.

Raston easily blocked our spells. I was already back on my feet, and Lily was standing up now. Raston smiled again. "I hope you enjoyed my little gift last week," he said. I narrowed my eyes. "I thought you might like being reminded of the pain from last winter," he said quietly, a malicious smirk on his face. My eyes widened with understanding. "Enjoy yourself, while you can."

He laughed as he disapparated. I fell to my knees, dropping my wand and putting my head in my hands.

Instantly, Lily was right on the ground next to me, her arms around my shoulders. "Hey, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay. You're safe now. He can't hurt you."

"Yes, he can," I said, lifting my face up. "It was him…he's the one who shot that curse at me on the astronomy tower…"

Raston could still hurt me, even when I was in Hogwarts. That wasn't supposed to be possible. He wasn't even supposed to matter anymore.

But somehow, it was possible. And he does matter, because he's going to find a way to kill me.

End Chapter

_I know it's short. I tried not to make it this short, but it happened anyway. _

_Okay, I usually have a few chapters written ahead of time so that if I get writer's block, it doesn't effect my updating schedule. But I've had writers block on this story for the last two weeks, and I've only got one more chapter before I run out. So, if any of you have any ideas on what I could do or anything you'd just like to see me do, it would be much appreciated if you left a review detailing it!_

_Please leave a review with some kind of idea! It's for your own good in this story!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Good news! I have recently kidnapped James and now own him! Haha! _

_Not true. Though I wish it were. James still belongs to J.K. Rowling. As does the rest of Harry Potter. _

Chapter 10: Memory Lane

_James' POV_

Lily had to practically drag me back to Hogwarts. And up the stairs. And into the Gryffindor common room, where she sat me on the couch by the fire. She put an arm around me and her chin on my shoulder.

"James? Are you going to be okay?" she asked. I nodded weakly.

"Yeah…just a bit of a shock…" I said. I stared into the flames of the fire.

"Was he one of the ones who kidnapped you last winter?" she asked quietly. I took a deep breath and automatically started rubbing my right arm.

"He didn't kidnap us, but he was one of the one's trying to force information out of us," I told her. She nodded.

"Should we tell Dumbledore?" she asked. It was nice that she was leaving the decision up to me, even though if I said no it would endanger the entire school.

And as Head Boy, I therefore can't say no.

"Yeah…we should tell him." She straightened up a little in surprise. It was very out of character for me to admit we should involve someone of authority.

I stood up and held out my hand to Lily. She took it and pulled herself up.

Xx

Dumbledore listened with rapt attention as we explained what happened on our way back from Hogsmeade. When I told him how I knew Raston, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"I think our first order of business should be to call everyone back from Hogsmeade," Dumbledore said. He quickly scribbled a note and gave it to Fawkes, his phoenix. "To Professor McGonagall, please."

Fawkes took off out the window, the letter clutched in his beak. Lily and I watched him go. I suddenly had a fleeting thought.

"Sirius, he's still in Hogsmeade," I said. I felt the blood drain from my face. Sirius would be even more traumatized than I am when it came to Raston. And Raston could still be in Hogsmeade, tracking him.

"Sirius will be fine. I'd be more worried about Raston," Lily said. I thought a moment and realized she was probably right. Sirius would tear Raston limb from limb. "But why didn't Raston fight longer? I mean, if he wanted you dead…" she let her voice trail off.

I nodded. "I think he wanted to scare me. Why else show himself at all just to leave that quickly?"

"He's toying with you," she realized. I nodded again. A bitter taste filled my mouth. It was like last winter all over again, only on a much larger scale.

The fire in Dumbledore's office roared up, and Madam Pomfrey's head appeared.

"What is it Poppy?" Dumbledore asked. Fear clutched my gut, and I took Lily's hand for support. She squeezed back.

"You need to come down here. Remus Lupin has just been brought in. He's badly hurt." And with that, her head disappeared. I was frozen.

Not Remus. Don't drag him into this too.

Before I was even aware of it, I was flooing down to the Hospital Wing. Remus lay unconscious on one of the beds, his face a bloody mess. Sirius and Peter stood off to the side, both looking pretty shaken. Madame Pomfrey was hustling about, healing Remus where she could. I walked over to Sirius and Peter.

"What happened?" I asked. Sirius was pale and tightlipped. He didn't say anything, or meet my eyes.

"Remus decided to come back early. We found him like this on our way back," Peter said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Lily put her hand on my arm, silently saying she was there to support me.

"Do you think it was him?" she asked quietly. "Raston and Bellatrix both saw us, so if Raston saw him…"

She didn't finish was she was saying. She didn't have to.

"Oh, Merlin," I said. My legs started to give out under me. Lily dragged me to a bed where I collapsed into a seated position.

"So it was him?" Sirius asked quietly. He sat next to me. "Raston is after us?"

I nodded. "He came after me and Lily on our way back. He didn't do much, just basically let us know that he's out for revenge and that he was the one who shot me the curse last weekend," I said. Sirius cursed. He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand.

"What could he possibly want with us? Don't you think he would have figured out that we don't know anything?" Sirius asked, his voice nearly breaking. I shook my head.

"I don't know." I pulled out my wand. "But he won't get us so easily this time," I vowed.

"Not when we can fight back," Sirius agreed. He had a stern look to his face, but he was staring at the floor. Maybe he was imagining Raston falling lifeless to the floor. I hate to admit it, but it wasn't that bad of a picture.

Xx

Remus woke up groggily a little while later. He didn't really seem to know what was going on, but he also didn't seem like he was in pain, which I was glad for. Madame Pomfrey kept him overnight, and he didn't seem like he could move anyway, so none of us fought it.

That night, I had trouble falling asleep. Big surprise, right? I didn't hear Sirius' snores either, so I assumed he was having the same problem. Peter though, was out like a light. I tossed and turned for a few hours, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position. When I finally fell asleep, it was restless and uneasy, and of course filled with nightmares.

It started in the Hell Hole, which was enough to freak me out right there. Nothing bad had happened in the Hell Hole per say, but it still wasn't a happy place to be. I was alone, and I could hear Sirius screaming above me. Raston's cruel laughter filled the air, along with Bellatrix's. I covered my ears, cowering like a lowly Slytherin.

What am I doing? I'm a Gryffindor, and I'm not helpless anymore! My wand materialized in my hand, and I ran up the steps. The door was surprisingly unlocked when I burst forth. The screaming changed, pitching higher. It wasn't Sirius on the floor anymore, it was Remus. Remus saw me and reached out a hand weakly, mouthing my name.

Raston laughed. I turned my attention to him and aimed my wand. It turned into a snake in my hand and I dropped it instantly. "You couldn't stop me before, why would you be able to now?" he asked. Bellatrix stepped into the picture, pointing her wand elsewhere. I followed the trajectory and silently screamed.

Lily was curled into herself, long past screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving trails in hallow and sunken cheeks. I fell to my knees, wrapping my arms around myself. Lily saw me. "Help me…James…" she said quietly. Her eyes closed.

"He couldn't even save himself," Raston said, suddenly closer. A knife was in his hand, and he plunged it into my right arm, dragging it along the same path Bellatrix had. Pain flared in my arm, ten times worse than before. I screamed and grasped my arm as if my life depended on it, which it sort of did. Raston laughed.

"And dear Sirius can't help him either," Bellatrix cooed, stepping aside to show the body lying on the floor. I didn't want to look at it. Raston grabbed my face and forced me to see it. Sirius lay, unmoving. He wasn't even breathing.

Sirius was dead.

I screamed myself awake.

Xx

I thrashed around in my bed, still caught in the dream. It all seemed too close, too containing like the Hell Hole. I moved slightly over and fell off the bed, dragging the red hangings with me. I landed with a solid _thud_. My legs were still on the bed. My right arm hurt like bloody hell.

I lay, gasping for air like a fish, covered with cold sweat, on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Sirius's snores faltered a bit before continuing their normal rhythm. At least he could sleep.

After a few minutes I disentangled myself from the sheets and the hangings. I quickly fixed those so I wouldn't have to later. I grabbed my glasses and went downstairs, still shaking from the dream.

It all seemed so real, and it had felt real too. Especially my arm. I chaffed it as I slowly descended the steps. The Gryffindor fire was still going pretty strongly, which I thought was odd. What time was it?

I went to sit on the couch, nearly sitting on someone who was sleeping on it. I caught myself on the back of the couch and pushed myself upright again. I looked to see that it was Lily, wearing her pajamas and a bath robe and covered by a blanket. Had she planned this? Or had she had a bad dream as well and accidentally fell asleep down here?

I shook her gently awake before common sense could tell me not too. She woke up fairly quickly and panicked for a moment before her eyes settled on me. She smiled sadly and sat up, making room for me. I sat down next to her.

"I figured you would have a bad dream," she said. She leaned against me and I put an arm around her.

"You didn't have to wait here for me," I said. "You should have gotten a good night's sleep in your bed."

"But then you'd be down here all alone and being depressed again. I'm here to let you know that you don't have to do this alone. You're not going through it alone," she said. She put an arm around my torso, staring intently into the fire. I did too.

"Sirius is going through the same thing," I said. "I know I'm not alone." I felt her shake her head against my side.

"Yeah, Sirius is in the same position as you. But Remus and I are going to be dealing with it too. Raston knows we're the reason you were able to get away last winter. He'll come after us. He already went after Remus."

I hadn't even thought of that. I tightened my grip around her, seeing her curled into herself in my dream, calling out to me for help…and I couldn't do anything…

My resolve settled right there.

"I won't let anything happen to you, ever," I said. I kissed the top of her head. I felt her cheek pull up against my side.

"I know you won't. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," she said. "That way, neither of us get hurt."

I smiled and closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue of a sleepless night. My arm still throbbed painfully, which was somewhat concerning me.

"I like the sound of that," I said quietly. She readjusted herself, accidentally jostling my arm. I hissed at the sudden pain. She stiffened.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a no-nonsense tone.

"It's nothing," I said. She moved away so she could look me in the face. I averted my eyes. It took all my self-control not to hold my arm.

"Look at me James," she said. I did, for a fraction of a second, before looking away again. Her eyes were just so intense. "James, please tell me what's wrong. I want to help."

"It's nothing, just a phantom," I said. Yeah, a really painful phantom that's bent on killing me painfully.

She narrowed her eyes at me. On a whim, she reached over and poked my right arm. I hissed again and instinctively grabbed my arm.

"Nothing, huh?" she asked. I rolled my eyes bitterly. "Madame Pomfrey should look at this."

"No! I mean…if it still hurts at breakfast I'll go then," I said. "It's probably just my memory or something, triggered by the dream."

She completely ignored me and started rolling up my sleeve. I hissed again and pulled away. "James. This is serious. Please let me look at it?" Her tone took on a pleading note, and I made the mistake of looking her in the eye. I sighed and held out my arm.

Dang, if she can do that to get whatever she wants…I'm going to go broke really soon.

I tried to ignore the stinging pain in my arm as she rolled my sleeve up. She stopped suddenly. "Um…Your sleeve won't go up any farther," she said. I looked over at her, then down at my arm. She had only gotten my sleeve up a little past my elbow, just barely showing the tail end of the scar.

"Oh well. Guess we should go to bed," I said. Hey, a guy could try, right?

She laughed, once. "You don't get off that easy. I can either cut your sleeve, or…you could take your shirt off." She said the last part so quickly and so quietly, I wasn't sure I'd heard her. But when I looked at her face, it was as red as her hair and she was looking anywhere but at me.

As much as I wanted to take my shirt off in front of Lily, I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Then again, I really didn't want to cut the sleeve off of this shirt either. It was a Quidditch one of my favorite team that my uncle had gotten me at the world cup a few years ago. Yes, he'd gotten it a few sizes too large, but he'd figured at the rate I was growing then I wouldn't have been able to fit into the shirt after a few weeks.

He had probably been right.

And he'd been killed by Voldemort not long after. It was the last thing I'd gotten from him, and I really didn't want to ruin it.

"You sure this can't wait?" I asked. She nodded, still averting her gaze. I sighed. I wasn't even sure I could lift the shirt above my head and get it over my arm. But maybe if I was fast enough…

"Does the shirt mean something to you?" Lily asked. I nodded.

"My uncle gave it to me right before he was killed." She took a deep breath.

"Do you think you can get it off?" she asked. I nodded, confident in my speed ability. She swallowed hard, still shaky. "Then take it off." I raised a brow.

"You sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable…"

"I'm sure. Just take it off," she said, her face continually growing redder. I nodded and leaned forward a bit to give myself more room. I took a deep breath and whipped my shirt off as fast as I could, hissing and wincing because of my arm.

I leaned back again and kept my shirt over most of stomach and chest, trying to make it easier for Lily. She seemed to be almost hyperventilating. But she shook her head and muttered, "get a grip, Evans."

She focused back on my arm and gasped. I looked up to the ceiling first before looking down at my arm. It was all red and swollen, which explains why my sleeve hadn't rolled up farther. The thin scar that had been left from Bellatrix's knife was white and fleshy, like it had been done not all that long ago.

"How is that possible?" Lily whispered, running her fingers gently over the wound. Her cool fingers felt good against the inflamed skin.

"I don't know," I muttered, still in shock from the sight. She looked up at me, her eyes darting down to my bare chest and then away again. I smiled despite myself.

"You sure you don't want go to the hospital wing now?" she asked. "It might get worse if you wait." She had suddenly found the singed carpet very interesting.

"I'm sure. I think it'll fade away in a few hours," I said. Total lie. I just hate the hospital wing.

She nodded. "Right well…I'm really tired and should probably go…up…um…"

I smiled. She wasn't one to stumble with her words. "Right. Go get some sleep," I said. I kissed her forehead. "I'll go try and get some more too."

She looked up my face and smiled. She reached up and pecked on the lips with hers briefly before darting away and up the stairs, like a little fairy. I smiled again and headed back up to my dorm, stealing glances at my arm along the way.

Why did I have this feeling that my arm suddenly doing this was only just the beginning in a long line of surprising and painful things?

End Chapter

_I'm honestly surprised I managed to write that much for this chapter, but I won't complain._

_All of you reading this, Please Review! If I only get one or two per chapter, then that makes me feel like no one is reading this and I'm not as interested in writing this! And I'm not going to abandon this story because I know there are people reading this! _

_Thank you to those who do, and the rest of you please do the same and Review! It really doesn't take that long!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Plans are not proceeding as planned._

_I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing this._

_And I promise I was completely sober when writing this. _

Chapter 11

_James' POV_

Remus was released from the hospital wing the next day. We spent the day studying and doing homework, nothing too strenuous for him (Or for me, since my arm's still a little sore). Madam Pomfrey may say he's okay, but us Marauders are stuck in a nightmare of the past. Remus is just as freaked out as Sirius and I about Raston's appearance. Lily dutifully stayed with me through the day, and since she was with us, so were Alice, Mary, and Marlene.

Was it really only two days ago we all played Quidditch together? It seemed like three lifetimes ago. If I couldn't have my carefree days from three years ago back, could I least have the carefree moments of a few days ago back? I'm starting to worry that I'll never smile again. I think Lily is worrying about that too.

It was about three when she finally looked around and slammed her transfiguration book shut, shattering us out of the peaceful reverie.

"Enough is enough. This moping around is killing me. We need to do something fun," she announced.

"Like what?" Sirius snapped. Lily gave him a look, not an angry look, but a challenging look. A look that gave all of us Marauders a run for our money.

"I'm thinking a little competition. Something like Truth or Dare?" she suggested, a wicked glint in her eyes as she looked at Sirius. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her.

"We've got an entire castle at our disposal, and the best you can come up with is Truth or Dare?" he asked. Her smirk only widened. The rest of us watched like it was a muggle's ping pong game.

"Of course, if you're too coward to play…" she started. She didn't finish, because she didn't have to. I'm very convinced you can convince Sirius to do anything if you call him a coward.

He jumped up. "Coward am I? Well then, Truth or Dare Lily Evans?" he asked. Lily sat down triumphantly.

"Truth," she said. I mentally face-palmed. A word from the wise: _Never_ accept a truth from Sirius. Then again, a dare isn't much better…

Sirius grinned. "What's your biggest fear?" he asked. Now pay attention. It may seem like a harmless enough question, but I can guarantee he'll be throwing that in Lily's face in the next two days.

"Voldemort killing my family," she answered, losing her triumphant look. I wrapped an arm around her and drew her into my side. Sirius's grin fell. He couldn't very well throw _that_ into her face. That would just be cruel.

Lily's grin returned with a vengeance. "Mary, truth or dare?"

Mary jumped. "What? Me? Um…dare?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I dare you to…change the color of your clothes and hair to neon orange. For five rounds."

"Such a weak dare," Sirius commented, shaking his head. Lily glared at him. Mary was gaping at Lily.

"Lily! You know I hate that color!" she complained.

"Why do you think I chose it?" Lily rebutted. Mary sighed and took out her wand, doing as she was dared. When she was all orange, she glared at Lily.

"Do you see how bad this color is now?" Mary asked her. Lily just smiled.

"It's your turn," Lily said sweetly. Mary just glared at her. I tightened my arm around Lily. She was on my left side today, which was a little odd since she's usually on my right, but I wanted my right arm to be on the end of the couch so no one hit it. It wasn't as bad now as it had been last night, and it didn't look like it had either, but it was still sore.

"Remus, truth or dare?" Mary asked, whipping around to face him. Remus jumped in surprise.

"Erm…Dare," he said. He didn't say dare because he wanted to. Merlin knew he definitely wasn't up for any dares. But he was too scared of answering truth, of someone asking what happened every month. So he always said dare, unless it was from one of us Marauders.

"Okay…I dare you to sit on Sirius' lap until I'm my normal color," Mary said. Remus blanched and looked over at Sirius. Sirius had a weird look on his face. (It's his confused expression, and the reason why he chooses not to pay attention in class)

Sirius good naturedly leaned back and patted his thighs. "C'mon Remus! You heard her!" Sirius said. Remus shook his head, his dignity warring with his pride. Apparently his pride won, because he went over and sat on Sirius' lap, a disgusted look on his face. Sirius didn't help matters either by wrapping his arms around Remus.

The rest of us for our part tried not to laugh too hard.

"My turn then, right?" Remus asked, looking around the room with true Marauder feeling. Mary uncertainly nodded. "Alice, truth or dare?" he asked. I tell you, Remus can be _freaky_ when he wants to be. That voice he used sent chills down _my _spine, and I'm not the one he's asking.

Alice met his gaze evenly. "Dare me, if you can," she said. Remus grinned. I raised a brow. What was going on in that head of his?

"I dare you to give Mary a lap dance," he said.

There was stunned silence. Mary's mouth hit the floor. Alice kept looking back and forth between Remus and Mary.

"Remus!" Marlene exclaimed. Remus just kept grinning. I shared a look with Sirius.

"James, I do believe we've rubbed off on dear old Remy," Sirius said.

"Sirius, I do believe you are right," I responded.

"Uh-uh, there is no way! I won't do it!" Alice said. "I have a boyfriend for Merlin's sake!"

"The consequence is that you have to strip down to your underwear for the duration of the game," Sirius said before anyone could stop him.

"Seconded," Remus said, still keeping his gaze trained on Alice.

"Seconded," Peter echoed, reminding everyone that he was still there.

"Rule passed," I said.

"Now who said you boys were in charge?" Lily asked, leaning away from me a bit. I shrugged.

"It's just how we do stuff. Do you argue the motion?" I asked her.

"No, it sounds like a fair consequence," Lily said. There was a wicked glint in her eyes that just made me fall in love with her all over again. Merlin, what a woman!

"Lily!" Alice shrieked. Lily started laughing.

"Sorry Alice. You've been dared. Now either accept the dare, or start stripping," Lily said. Alice turned beat red. I glanced over at the few other kids in the room doing homework. They seemed to be trying to drown us out as much as possible.

"Don't I have a say in this?" Mary asked.

"No," we all said at the same time. She pouted.

"Who could ever strip for a consequence with Sirius Black in the room?" Alice asked, standing up. Sirius smiled proudly. I shook my head. Alice turned a heated glare onto Remus. "I swear, if word of this reaches Frank, I will tear you limb from limb and feed you to the giant squid!" she said. She looked around at all of us. "That goes for everyone!"

I won't go into details of the next five minutes, both for your sake and for mine. Mary kept her eyes covered, and the rest of us just kept our eyes averted. Except Sirius. He wolf-whistled several times.

Those other kids must be so traumatized. You'd think we'd censor this for their sake.

"I might have to hire your services!" Sirius said when Alice sat down again. She glared at him, her face beat red.

"I will _murder_ you, before I let you hire me," she said. And from the tone in her voice, I didn't doubt it. "Lily, truth or dare," Alice said.

"Truth," Lily automatically said. I wonder if she's scared to do a dare.

"What's the most rule breaking you've ever done?" Alice asked. My ears perked up. This would be good. Lily Evans, a rule breaker?

Lily blushed. "I was in primary school (**Is that what it's called in England? I'm not sure, and I apologize if I'm wrong.)**. The teacher was really bugging me one day. So I threw a book at her and walked out of the class and all the way home," she said. We stared at her in stunned silence.

"You…threw a book…at a teacher?" Sirius asked. Lily nodded.

"I had detention for a week," she added.

"_You _had detention?" Peter asked. She nodded again.

"This goes against everything we know about you," Marlene said. "Why haven't we heard this before?" she demanded.

Lily shrugged. "You never asked."

The girls all rolled their eyes.

"Anyway…Peter, truth or dare?" Lily asked. Peter squeaked in surprise.

"Truth?"

Lily seemed to take pity in his…pityableness. "Favorite subject?" she asked. Sirius and Alice groaned. Lily shot them glares. I chuckled.

"Transfiguration," he answered. Hmmm. Wonder why? "James, truth or dare?" Peter asked. I looked over at him in surprise.

"Dare," I responded before processing what was happening. Peter smirked. It was a look only me, Sirius, Remus had ever seen. The girls were taken aback by it.

I was slightly worried.

"I dare you to kiss Sirius on the mouth for ten seconds," Peter said. I blinked at him and then looked over at Sirius. Sirius had his brow raised.

I briefly considered the consequence.

"My girlfriend is right here," I said, trying to worm my way out of this.

"Oh no. I'm not an excuse. I want to see this too," Lily said.

"Lily!" I exclaimed. The others were all laughing.

"Are you a coward, James?" Marlene asked. I glared at her.

"No."

My insides twisted as I stood up. Sirius was looking at the floor, his confused expression on.

"C'mon James!" Mary cheered. I shot her a look. Sirius leaned his face up, his eyes telling me how much he was not okay with this.

"You just have to sit there," I told him. He shrugged.

"I'm still part of it," he said. I shrugged this time.

"C'mon you women," Remus said. We both glared at him. Sirius sighed. He turned back to look at me, and I smashed my lips onto his before I could think about it.

I heard the others cat calling while I silently counted to ten in my head. As soon as I hit ten, I jumped away and back to my seat, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. Sirius was doing the same.

"Alright James and Sirius!" Alice cheered. I glared at her. I saw Mary glance at the other kids, who were closing the portrait hole behind them now. Probably a smart move.

"Sirius, you're cheating on me?" Remus asked, standing up and looking back at him. Sirius stared at him, openmouthed.

The rest of us couldn't breath we were laughing so hard.

Remus walked over and took his original seat. Mary looked at him and then counted on her hand.

"Yes! It's been five turns!" she exclaimed, whipping her wand out and reverting back to her normal coloring. Lily just kept smirking.

"Anyway, James, it's your turn," Alice said, wiping tears from her eyes. Sirius had his confused look on again.

"Alright…Marlene, truth or dare," I said. She looked at me with a level gaze.

"Truth," she said.

"Most embarrassing story," I said. She blushed immediately. I smirked.

"C'mon Marlene, tell them," Lily coaxed. Wait, so she knows already?

"It's either that or you start stripping," Sirius said. Marlene blushed even more.

"Okay, okay. It was during summer break after third year. There's this muggle boy in my neighborhood that I liked, and I was trying to get together with him. We went to the zoo one day, and…" she stopped and took a deep breath. "Well long story short I ended up in the enclosure with the penguins attacking me _and_ a monkey on my head. That boy has not spoken to me since."

Sirius started roaring with laughter. "Merlin, how'd you get the monkey and the penguins?" Remus asked. Marlene shook her head.

"Lily, truth or dare?" Marlene asked.

"Dare," Lily replied.

"I dare you to…arm wrestle James!" Marlene said. Lily raised a brow, then looked over at me. Her head dropped in defeat. Apparently, she forgot that my arm is sore, (Which explains why I wasn't dragged to the hospital wing this morning) and is just accepting that she can't win against me.

She sighed. "Over to the table then," she said, getting up. I followed her.

"Let's do it with our left arms," I suggested. She shook her head.

"Merlin no! It's bad enough you'll win easily with your right, I'm not showing everyone that my left arm can't do squat!" Lily said. I smiled and bit my lip at the same time. Unconsciously I chaffed my right arm. Her back was turned as she cleared the table off.

"Humiliation is good, Lily," Marlene said. Lily glared back at her. She sat down on one side of the table, I obediently sat down on the other and took a deep breath. This shouldn't be too hard, right?

"Merlin, James. Don't look so nervous," Sirius said. He laughed. "You're allowed to beat your girlfriend in arm wrestling," he added. I smiled and let out a small laugh.

"You better not let me win," Lily said. I turned back to her. She was glaring but smiling at the same time.

"I promise I won't," I said. Her glare softened and she put her arm in the position. I mirrored her and wrapped my hand around hers. Marlene came over and stood between us.

"On the count of three…one, two, three!" she said. Lily started trying to push my arm down, and she was actually getting pretty far, before I did more than just resist and pushed against her. My arm throbbed. I bit my lip. This throbbing was nothing like last years pain. I can deal with this.

She cried out and let her arm fall under mine. I let go, immediately concerned that I hurt her. Lily's friends laughed. I smiled, still biting my lip, and resisted the urge to chaff my arm again.

"There," Lily said, standing up. I stood up too. She lightly punched my arm, saying "You could have at least _pretended_ to let me win_,_" said. I was holding my arm, my jaw locked. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, then all at once straightened out and widened her eyes. "Oh Merlin, James, I'm sorry! I forgot your arm hurt!" she said.

_That_ got everyone's attention.

"What do you mean his arm hurts?" Sirius asked, getting up and walking over. The pain subsided enough where I could trust my voice.

"It's nothing. I just landed funny yesterday when diving to avoid a hex," I said, avoiding Sirius' and everyone's gazes.

"Maybe you should let Madam Pomfrey have a look at then," Peter said.

"I'm fine. No need to involve her," I said, walking back over to the couch. Lily grabbed my hand on the way.

"James, you said if it still hurt at breakfast you'd go see Madam Pomfrey," Lily said. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"It was better this morning; I didn't worry about it," I said defensively. Lily got that stern look on her face that pretty much said if I didn't listen to her I'd likely be Imperiused.

She came over and rolled up my sleeve; a much easier task to accomplish in the loose school robes. I held it up for her with my left hand. Sirius and the others all came over to have a look. I kept my gaze on the ceiling, breathing through my mouth. Too many images of last winter were running through my mind.

"Why is it green?" Peter asked, moving as if to poke my arm. Mary slapped his hand.

"It's infected," Sirius said in a flat monotone. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. I could hear Bellatrix's laughter in my head, and one look at Sirius showed that he could too.

"You're going to Madam Pomfrey," Lily said sternly, starting to gently drag me out of the common room. "_Now_."

End Chapter

_Again, completely sober when writing this. Don't know what that says about me…but I hope you liked it!_

_Please Review! They all make me really happy!_


	12. Chapter 12

I'm really sorry about the wait! I got sick right after I posted the last chapter and then I had prom and then my teachers actually gave me homework! I haven't been able to write anything and it's been so awful! Isn't my life just one big woe? (Sarcasm, in case you're wondering)

Anyway, once that was all out of the way and I was ready to post last saturday, FF wouldn't let me. Apparently a lot of people had this problem though, so...good job FF!

I still don't own Harry Potter or any part of the franchise, though I would love to. If any of you can help accomplish this, drop me a line.

_Chapter 12: A Match to Remember_

_James' POV _

Needless to say, Lily dragged me all the way to the Hospital Wing, and Sirius pushed me. I was still in a state of shock or denial or whatever and kind of just went along with it. The others followed behind us obediently.

Madame Pomfrey was confused when our entire entourage came in, and she eyed us all nervously, looking for injuries. Her eyes settled upon Lily holding my arm, the sleeve still mostly pushed up.

"James' arm looks like it's infected again," Lily said, gently dragging me forward. Madame Pomfrey came over and took my arm gently. She pushed my sleeve up again and gasped.

"Sit down James," she said, dropping my arm. I sat on the edge of a bed. She bustled over to her store of magical remedies.

"What could have caused it to do that?" Peter asked aloud. I shrugged. Whatever it was had happened yesterday. But it was fine when I went to sleep. It was when I woke up after the nightmare that it hurt.

Could it have something to do with my nightmare then?

Madame Pomfrey came back over with a potion that I had to drink and then some concoction that she rubbed on my arm.

"James, what was your nightmare about last night?" Lily asked, sitting behind me so she was out of Madame Promfrey's way.

Merlin! How does she put these things together so fast!

Everyone's head swiveled to look at us. I took a deep breath.

"What would the dream have to do with anything?" I asked, trying to brush it off. Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"James, it could have everything do with this," he said. I sighed. The others all took up positions around me on various beds. All of them made sure they were out of Madame Pomfrey's way.

"You can figure it out," I told Sirius quietly. He closed his eyes.

"Yeah, I can. One question though: Did one of them reopen your arm in your dream?" he asked.

It was so quiet in the room you could have heard a pin drop to the ground outside.

Slowly, I nodded. Sirius cursed.

"Damn Dark Magic," he said, looking at the wall like that was the cause of our problems.

"Sirius, what are you talking about?" Remus asked.

"Due to my less than pleasant childhood experience, you all know that I know a lot about the Dark Arts, right?" Sirius started, looking around at all of us. We all nodded. Madame Pomfrey glanced at him. "Well the one thing that was very popular among the Black family was the Dreaming Curse."

He paused.

"I don't think I like where this is going," Marlene said. Sirius let out a short laugh.

"You shouldn't. As long as you have the blood of your victim, doesn't matter how much, you can send them any kind of dream you want. And the truly skilled witch or wizard can cause harm in that dream."

Silence reigned in the hospital wing.

"Let me guess, Bellatrix knows how the Dreaming Curse is performed?" Remus said. Sirius nodded.

"But why only James? Why not you as well?" Mary asked.

"You can only affect one person at a time, and it drains you like nothing else," Sirius said. I took a deep breath.

"Is there any way to protect yourself against it?" Lily asked. Madame Pomfrey began wrapping my arm in a tourniquet.

"Not that I know of," Sirius said.

"But why wasn't it opened completely again?" I asked. Sirius shrugged.

"Depends on what Bella wanted to do."

"And it almost was last night," Lily said. "Maybe she healed the surface damage on you, but left what was under it?" she suggested. I shrugged with my left shoulder.

"And what exactly did she do?" Remus asked. I shook my head in confusion.

"That's just it. _She_ didn't do anything. Raston's the one that reopened it. And all he did was simply take a knife and drag it along the path already there," I said. Sirius frowned.

"It's possible Bella manipulated the dream that way, and it's also possible that Raston can do that to," he said. He shuddered. "Merlin, I hope he can't do it too."

"That would be bad," I agreed. I felt oddly calm, considering the situation. The Death Eater's faces kept floating in my mind, but instead of being terrified like I normally was, I felt…I don't know. Indifferent, almost. Prepared, maybe? Ready to face them and end it for good?

"I'm getting Dumbledore," Madame Pomfrey said, speaking up for the first time and proceeding to run out of the wing. I raised a brow.

"Does she realize how easy it is for you to run right now?" Alice asked. I smiled. It would be very easy.

"But she's getting Dumbledore, and this is something we should tell Dumbledore about. He might have a way to block the dreams," Remus said. I sighed. Damn logic.

Sirius looked at me. I nodded.

"We'll tell him," I said. He took a deep breath.

"Not used to telling the authority," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. I nodded.

"Neither am I. We'll run after," I said, causing our friends around us to laugh.

"Hey," Mary said, causing us to drag our attention to her. "Isn't the opening Quidditch match between us and Slytherin this Saturday?" she asked. Odd question.

"Well,_ yeah_. Where've you been?" Alice asked, turning a questioning glare to her friend.

"Madame Pomfrey isn't going to let James play with that arm," she said, pointing to my arm. All amusement left my face.

"Well damn," I said. I used my left hand to kneed my forehead. I was already thinking of possible replacements for my position as Chaser. "Remus, you up for it?" I asked him.

He sighed. "If you can't find anyone else. You know how I hate playing in the games," he said. I frowned but nodded. I looked at the girls in front of me. Mary played Keeper, but what about Marlene, or Lily?

"Marlene?" I asked. She fervently shook her head.

"I know the beaters on the Slytherin team. I've had a bad relationship with both of them. I go out there, I'll be killed!" she said. I took a deep breath and turned around to face Lily.

"You interested in playing?" I asked her. She tilted her head to think about it.

"You really think I'd be any good against the Slytherins?" she asked. I nodded.

"James here will make sure you are well prepared by the end of the week to handle anything those Slytherins may try," Sirius said. I smiled and nodded. I'd make sure my whole team was well prepared for anything those Slytherins may try.

"I can give it a try," she said. I smiled and leaned over to peck her on the lips with my own.

"Merlin! I'm never going to get used to that!" Alice exclaimed, causing me to pull away laughing.

Xx

I kept good on my unmade promise to make sure Lily was well prepared for the match. The night before at practice she was practically better than I was! Which Sirius made sure to point out over and over and over. Lily felt confident enough as well, and the whole team was supportive of her being my replacement. Especially when they saw her score an easy goal against our keeper, Ryan Hows. That's no easy task, mind you. Ryan doesn't make it easy to score.

The Slytherins will never know what hit them!

Xx

The day of the match was almost perfect weather conditions. It wasn't too cold or too hot, it was partly cloudy, and there was hardly any wind. A Quidditch captain can't ask for better conditions!

My whole team was stoked for the match. Lily was being referred to as the 'Secret Weapon', since we made sure no one even knew that I wouldn't be playing in the match. I tried to talk Madame Pomfrey into letting me play. That only resulted in her threatening to tie me up in the Hospital Wing. So I'd be watching from the stands.

And probably shouting orders the whole time when they don't do what I want them to do.

The team filed out onto the pitch, Sirius leading. He'd be acting as Captain today, since I was up in the stands with Remus and Peter. I haven't been up in the stands since first year. I felt eleven years old again.

"And here comes the Gryffindor team, consisting of Ryan Hows, Keeper; Elizabeth Gurtu, Chaser; Drake Hearts, Chaser; Lily….wait, does this say Lily Evans? Why is she on the list? And where's James Potter, the captain!" the announcer, George Clemens, exclaimed. Hehe. Not a soul outside the team knew!

"George, just read the list," Professor McGonagall said. Well, okay. She knew. We had to run this by her after all. She loved the surprise.

"Alright. Lily Evans, Chaser; Sirius Black, Beater and temporary captain? What in Merlin's pants happened to James?"

"George!" McGonagall shouted. The stands were all laughing, just as confused as George but enjoying his misery.

"Fine, fine. Black is the temporary captain. Victor Sasn, Beater; and last but not least, the lovely Miss Rebecca Bernstein, Seeker!" George concluded. The team down on the pitch was struggling to contain themselves. Sirius had his arm around Lily, who was outfitted in her own uniform, extremely proud of himself. He'd have to watch himself. "Well, I don't quite understand what's going on with the Gryffindor team since no one will explain it to me, but I hope this game will be one to remember!"

Remus clapped a hand on my shoulder. "I think they're enjoying the surprise," he said. I smiled wider and nodded.

"I just wish I could be down there."

"Get over yourself mate," Remus said, looking back down at the pitch as the Slytherin team came out.

"Well, it seems like this team decided to stick to the roster," George said bitterly. "The team is Mike Ryvek, Beater and Captain; Billy Rovira, Beater; Andrew Palmer, Seeker; Kevin Krasnicki, Keeper; Josh Dunham, Chaser; Scott Gandy, Chaser; and last but not least, Kenny Rubin, Chaser."

Notice how there were no girls? Yeah, that's Slytherin for you.

Sirius and Mark shook hands, nearly crushing each other's fingers. But they just brushed it off and mounted their brooms with everyone else. Lily looked around nervously into the stands, either searching for someone or surveying the audience, I couldn't tell. She kept her face in a mask of cool indifference.

"And they're off!" George yelled as the fourteen players kicked off from the ground. Ryan and Kevin went to their respectful posts. He usually does a bad commentary so I tuned him out, much more focused on the game itself than his personal opinion of Rebecca Bernstein.

When the Quaffle was thrown into the air, Lily surprised everyone watching and playing by being the first person to seize it. She sped off down the field, the other five chasers hot on her tail. Drake Hearts overcame her and she passed it to him, dropping altitude a bit to avoid a bludger that I didn't even know she'd seen. Sirius chased after the bludger and hit it at Dunham, who was trying to overtake Drake. Dunham had to swerve to avoid the bludger, giving Drake the chance he needed to score the first goal.

Cheers rang out around the stands, including my own. I have the feeling Gryffindor is going to party hard tonight.

I glanced over at Rebecca, who was diving to avoid a stray bludger. No sign of the snitch yet.

Elizabeth had gained possession of the Quaffle, and she passed to Drake as they made their way up the pitch. Drake tried to pass to Lily, but a combination of an aimed bludger and Gandy interfered. Lily wheeled around to chase after it, a hard determination on her face. That is not a good look to be on the receiving end of.

Gandy had just thrown the Quaffle at one of our posts when Lily tipped it with her fingers, causing the ball to stray off course and into Ryan's waiting hands. Clearing herself of Gandy, Lily caught the pass from Ryan and began weaving her way back up the pitch. And I mean that literally.

"Come on, Lily, come on," I muttered.

"James, you're muttering," Peter said. I didn't even spare him a glance as Lily closed in on the goal posts. I think all of Gryffindor held their breath as she faked right, spun around and shot left. Krasnicki was still right and never had a chance.

Score two for Gryffindor!

And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Drake, Elizabeth, and Lily scored a total of 120 points before Rebecca caught the snitch in a dramatic chase against Palmer that ended with the two Seekers plowing into the ground. Don't worry, they were fine. Rebecca immediately stood up and displayed the snitch in her hand for all to see. Palmer kind of pouted on the ground.

The Slytherins scored twice. The entire game. And Ryan sat on his broom and watched lazily as those two goals sailed past him, giving the chasers a thumbs up when they made it.

It was hysterical.

We all met the team down on the pitch after the game. Lily was being mobbed by Gryffindors who hadn't even known she could fly.

"Oi! Back off!" Sirius shouted, waving his beater club around. That caused people to back up a few feet. I walked past them. Lily gave a million galleon smile when she saw me. I pulled her into a strong embrace.

"Good job," I said in her ear before capturing her lips in my own. When I pulled away her face was as red as her hair, but she was still smiling.

"Thanks," she said.

"Alright, this calls for a major celebration!" someone in the crowd yelled. Sirius and I looked at each other and smiled.

"They are absolutely right," Sirius said.

"I couldn't agree more," I said. We both looked discreetly at Lily, then back at each other. He nodded.

With a practiced skill, Sirius and I lifted Lily onto our shoulders, holding her above the crowd. She gasped and grabbed a fistful of our hair at first, but then eased up when she was steadied.

Sirius and I paraded Lily up to the castle again, somehow managing to get her up all seven flights of stairs to Gryffindor Tower. The crowd stayed with us the whole way, even those who weren't in Gryffindor. But hey, when have intruders ever stopped our Quidditch celebrations before?

I'd been right in my earlier prediction. Gryffindor partied hard that night!

End Chapter

_I hope I made up for the wait with this chapter. I'm going to try not to let that happen again. _

_Please review! I'm not kidding when I say they make me write faster! I get enthusiastic when you're enthusiastic! So review! Please!_


	13. Chapter 13

Still don't own Harry Potter.

_Chapter 13: Winter Fun?_

_Sirius' POV (Odd, I know. But you'll understand by the end of the chapter why.)_

It was Christmas Break here at Hogwarts. Snow covered the grounds, making excellent entertainment without much fuss. Us Marauders and Lily and her friends were the only ones around, and we were having a blast. It was the first full day of break. We headed outside immediately and a snowball war commenced.

I nailed James in the head quite a few times, breaking his glasses at least twice. He magically repaired them and then walloped me in the gut. Lily nailed Alice pretty well. I chased Marlene down and tackled her into the snow. She slapped me and then shoved snow in my face, which kind of contradicted the slap.

I guess that lasted for a little over an hour. We were all bright red and out of breath and a little wet by the end of it.

"Hey Sirius, up for some ice skating?" James asked, standing up. I glanced between him and the frozen lake and jumped to my feet.

"Let's do it!" I yelled before charging towards the lake. I heard James laughing behind me and glanced back to see him following. The others were casually following behind them. I slipped on some snow and fell forward, catching myself on my hands before I got another face full of snow. James came up next to me.

"Nice face plant," he commented. I brought myself to my feet, rubbing my hands together to keep them warm.

"For the record, my face never hit the ground," I said, glaring at him. James laughed and raised his hands in surrender.

Eventually we did all make it down to the lake. James and I jumped right out onto the ice, sliding away for maximum speed. Remus joined us, a hand behind his back. Why, I have no idea. I turned to skate off a bit more. When I turned around, Remus was much closer and was flinging a ball of snow into my face.

"Gah! That's cold!" I screamed.

"Snow usually is," Remus commented calmly. He was trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile. I glared up at him. He started backing up slowly. I pounced on him, sending us both sliding across the ice.

"Hey now, play nice you two," James called. He was standing by Lily, who was clinging onto him for dear life. Guess she doesn't skate much.

"He started it!" I called back childishly. Our slide came to a gentle stop and I tried to stand up, slipping on the ice and landing on Remus. His breath whooshed out past me.

"Anymore of that and I'll have to ask you two to get a room!" James yelled. I glared at him and then looked down at Remus. He was glaring at James too and then met my gaze. We both smirked evilly.

I got off of him, careful not to slip on the ice again, and he stood up next to me.

"Flank him and then slingshot," Remus muttered so only I could hear. I smiled and nodded.

"You go right, I've got left," I said just as quietly. I noticed as I moved into position that it was only Remus, me, James, Lily, Alice, and Marlene out here. Peter and Mary were still on the banks. Peter usually did, being one not of athletic inclination. He was more of a 'I'll-sit-and-watch' kind of guy. But he's our best spy. No one ever suspects him of doing anything. So when he's nearby, appearing to be struggling with homework and completely absorbed in his work, watch out. He's usually eavesdropping on you so we can find out critical info in your eternal humiliation. Such a simple plan, and no one ever figures it out. The rest of the castle thinks we have every room magically bugged. A muggle-born told us that term. I personally don't see how placing bugs around the castle would help with eavesdropping. Muggles and their ideas.

Remus and I were in position now. James was looking at us both warily, knowing we were up to something. I smiled and grabbed Evans, throwing/sliding her over to Alice, who at least caught her before falling over. Then I grabbed James' left arm while Remus grabbed his right. James seemed to accept his fate and let us hurl him across the ice. I must say, that boy gets good distance! He went about twenty feet before tripping over some random ice chunk. He flailed around, trying to stay upright, but failed and landed hard on his back. He was still sliding too, adding another ten feet to his total distance before coming to a stop in the middle of the lake.

He was out much farther than we normally go. When he looked up at us, he was glaring.

"I'd say we should go after him, but I don't think it's smart to go towards something that looks like it wants to kill us," I said.

"I concur. To the banks then?" Remus said, turning away from James.

"To the banks!" I exclaimed, turning on my heel and falling on my ass.

"You deserved that one!" James called. I rolled my eyes.

"Are you alright James?" Lily called.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, sounding much closer than before. Remus and I whipped our heads around to see James flying into a tackle at me, swiping Remus' legs as well. Remus landed hard on his ass as James and I went sliding into the snow.

We came up laughing. Remus was forcing himself upright, grimacing as he found some bruises. James was clutching his side hard because of the laughter. I looked around and noticed three people in hooded cloaks not too far off. My laughter died away.

"James, who are they?" I asked, pointing to the figures. He looked, his laughter dying.

"Don't know," he replied, his voice tight. We were both thinking of the same thing, how this scene was a lot like last year when we were kidnapped. To be perfectly honest, I'm not interested in repeating last year's adventure. I could do without that, thanks.

"Attack now or wait?" I asked, drawing my wand. He drew his own as well. I glanced around at our surroundings. Peter and Mary had disappeared. Remus was over by Alice, Marlene, and Lily.

"Wait until we know for sure who they are," he said. I nodded, bringing my gaze back to the three figures. One of them was reaching into their cloak. I tightened my grip on my wand, a stunning spell on the tip of my tongue.

The figure had reached in slowly, but they drew forth a wand quickly, simultaneously firing off a shot at us. James and I dived in opposite directions, sliding on our sides on the ice. I fired a few hexes as I went. I saw James do the same. A fiery determination burned in his eyes, and I knew mine reflected the same thing. There was no way on this currently frozen world we were repeating last year.

As soon as I stopped sliding I got to my feet and off the ice, choosing instead to fight on the slightly less slippery snow. James mimicked my actions, never letting up on the hexes. The three fought against us relentlessly.

When I got a chance to look around back at the others, they were gone. I don't know where they went, and I didn't have time to worry over it. It was me and James against these three people, who I'm assuming are Death Eaters. How they got on school grounds I'll never know.

I managed to land a lucky stunning spell on one of them, evening the odds a bit. James was holding his own against his Death Eater. I started circling with mine. Our wands were held out in front of us, even with each other.

"Who are you?" I asked, hoping to distract them into giving me an opening.

"You can't tell, dear cousin?" a female voice asked. Her voice sent shivers down my spine, and she pulled her hood down. Bellatrix stood there, smiling wickedly at me. "We didn't get to finish our visit last year," she pouted.

"Yeah, I'm so disappointed," I said sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes.

"Raston dear, I think it's time we finished this," Bellatrix said. I froze at Raston's name. James did too. The other conscious Death Eater took his hood off, revealing black hair and a scarred face. He pointed his wand at James but looked at me.

"This is for you, Sirius. This is all for you," he said before firing at James. I think James was looking at me, giving away precious time as he had to look back at the spell hurtling towards him. He couldn't get out of the way in time.

The spell connected with him, and he was thrown backwards from the momentum. He didn't get up.

"James," I whispered, taking a few steps to him. Tears brimmed in my eyes. He couldn't actually be…no, he can't be…. "No…No…NO!" I screamed, falling to my knees.

Xx

I felt the pain in my shoulder, but as to what it was from I wasn't sure. Had the other Death Eater awoken and hit me in the shoulder with a badly aimed spell?

"Sirius!" someone yelled. I felt hands on my shoulders, and the winter land of Hogwarts faded to black. "Wake up Padfoot!"

I opened my eyes blearily to see James hovering over me, his hands on my shoulders as he shook me awake. I was in the Gryffindor dormitory. James was safe. James had not been hit with a spell. Raston and Bellatrix were not attacking us.

"James?" I asked, because I had to make sure. I had to know that this was real.

"You okay?" he asked, letting go of my shoulders. I rubbed my shoulder, noticing I was on the floor. I briefly looked up at my bed. The sheets were all tangled.

"I think…" I said. Remus was right behind James. His face seemed to be having trouble whether to be amused at something or concerned.

"Nightmare?" James asked. I nodded. "One of _their_ nightmares?" he asked. I thought about it.

"I don't think so. I never got hurt," I said. Raston's words came back to me as he aimed at James in my dream. _This is for you, Sirius. All for you._

Were they trying to hurt me by hurting James? They'd seen how effective that was last year. Was that the explanation for everything?

Xx

_James' POV_

Sirius grew quiet and thoughtful. I frowned in sympathy. "Come on, let's go back to sleep. We still have class in the morning," I said, dragging Sirius back to his feet. He jumped at my touch before settling down. "You want to talk about it?" I asked him.

He shook his head and climbed into bed, drawing the hangings around himself and leaving the rest of us dumbstruck. I rubbed the back of my head and turned to Remus. He shrugged and went back to his own bed. Peter and I looked at each other for a moment.

"Night Peter," I said, walking back to my bed.

"Night James," he said, walking to his own.

Nothing else happened that night, or the following day, or the day after, or the day after that. The next two weeks were completely uneventful, even in Quidditch, which I was allowed to play in again. My arm was fine. It had gone back to the thin white line it had healed into before bloody Bellatrix had to go and ruin things.

Before Hogwarts knew it, Christmas break was descending upon us. And it hit with quite a bang this year.

End Chapter

_Gah! This did not turn out as long as I'd hoped! I'm sorry! I think I had something else planned for this chapter but I can't remember what! _

_I'm really sorry, but as of now, I WON'T BE UPDATING UNTIL MAY! I'm traveling and have a lot of end of the year projects in school, and it would just be much easier if I didn't have to worry about this! I'm really sorry, but I need to lighten my work load and this is the only thing that can be pushed back. _

_Please review! I promise I'll make up for the short chapter and lack of updates next month!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Gah! I hate that I had to wait so long to work on this! You must all hate me now! I promise this chapter will make up for it though!_

_I don't own Harry Potter. _

Chapter 14: Beginning Bang

_James' POV_

During Christmas Break, nearly everyone in the castle was leaving. I'm not just talking about the normal amount, I mean to say that the only ones _not_ going anywhere were me, Sirius, Remus, Marlene, Mary, and a small handful of students from various houses. We totaled ten students in all.

A blizzard hit an hour after everyone had left. The wind howled throughout the castle, fist-sized snow clumps pounded against the wall. It almost didn't seem natural. Us remaining Gryffindors were gathered in the common room, just idly chatting. We had the entire tower to ourselves, and I got to say, it was awesome. We didn't have to worry about any first years or something overhearing us and we didn't have to worry about what we said, and there wasn't any homework to worry about. It was pure bliss for that first night.

If the blizzard hadn't been so bad, we would have gone outside for a snowball fight. It kept up through the night. Sirius was really jumpy though for some reason, and he kept looking at me like I was going to die soon. And I hate the fact that I can say it's not the first time he's looked at me like that. The last time he looked at me like that, I very nearly did die.

I hope he stops looking at me like that soon.

The second day of the castle being empty I finally asked him about it. The blizzard was still roaring outside the castle, but the house elves were doing a fantastic job of keeping this castle warm.

"I'm hoping it's nothing, mate," Sirius answered cryptically. I stared blankly at him for a moment.

"And this answers my question, how?" I asked at last. He turned to look at me sadly again, then out the window. He never answered. I frowned. "Sirius, talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it," he said. I frowned again.

"How can I not worry about it when you keep looking at me like I'm going to die any day?" I asked, maybe with a hint of anger. He frowned at me.

"It was just a dream, it probably doesn't mean anything anyway," Sirius said. I felt my jaw drop in confusion and my head tilt to the side. Before I could ask what he meant by _that_, he got up and walked out of the room. I stared after him, completely bewildered.

Nothing interesting really happened until later that night. We were all gathered in the common room, telling scary stories, when there was a loud bang. Marlene had been at the climax of a really good thriller at the time, and we all jumped at least two feet in the air and screamed.

"What…what was that?" Mary asked, clinging onto Remus for dear life. We all shook our heads. The fire in the fireplace shuddered and blew out, taking with it all of our light.

"Is it just me, or is it really creepy right now?" Marlene asked. I couldn't actually see her, so it was rather odd to just hear her voice.

"It's really creepy," I agreed. There was another bang. The girls screamed again.

"Should we investigate?" Sirius asked.

"Someone has to," I said. I pulled out my wand and muttered, "Lumos." The tip of my wand ignited in a soft light, illuminating most of the room in a pale blue light. I could see everyone's faces, looking much paler than normal and terrified. Whether it was just the odd light giving them the coloration or whether the blood had actually drained from their faces, I couldn't tell. My guess is that it's a combination of both.

Sirius and Remus both pulled out their wands and ignited the ends as well, making the room a little brighter. Mary's grip around Remus' arm lightened slightly. Marlene moved over to Sirius and grabbed his hand in both of hers.

"Come on," I said, getting to my feet and moving to the portrait hole. I climbed out first, wand at the ready. I paused just outside and looked around, making sure that nothing was around. "Nothing out here," I said, signaling everyone else to come out.

"I don't think I've ever been this scared," Mary stated as she climbed out of the tower. The lights in the hallway were out as well, which is odd because they're all separate candles. What could have put them out?

"Where should we go first?" Sirius asked. He stood next to me, looking as terrified as I felt. But we both put on brave faces for the others and made it seem like we weren't scared at all. Someone had to seem like they were in charge, and this was our specialty.

"It would be easier if we knew the general direction of the sound," Remus stated. I nodded in agreement. The portrait of the Fat Lady closed behind Marlene. She and Mary weren't clinging onto anyone anymore, but we could all tell that they were still scared. I was suddenly grateful that Lily wasn't here right now. I wouldn't have wanted her to try and put on a brave face in this sort of situation. That's how people (like me and Sirius) get hurt.

"You should get back in the tower and stay there," the Fat Lady said behind Marlene, making her jump. "Sorry dear."

"Do you know where the sound came from?" I asked.

"It sounded like it came from the Entrance Hall. Goodness, I hope no one is trying to break down the doors. But get back inside, where you're safe," the Fat Lady said. Sirius and I shook our heads.

"We won't be much safer there if we can't protect the school out here," Sirius said.

"We'll do what we can, and if we have to run we'll come back," I said to appease the portrait. She nodded, and the five of us started making our way to the Entrance Hall. Mary and Marlene kept their wands lit for light while Sirius, Remus, and I kept ours ready to fire a spell.

We stopped at every corner and peered around to make sure no one was going to ambush us. We found that every single candelabra in the castle (at least from Gryffindor Tower to the Entrance Hall) was no longer lit. There was no source of light in the castle except for our wands. And it was silent. Eerily so.

Sirius descended the Grand Staircase first. One of the steps creaked, and I was reminded of the beginning of the summer, when I heard him step on the creaky spots of the second floor of the Potter mansion when we went home. That hadn't ended too well. I hoped that tonight wouldn't end the same way.

There was an earsplitting shriek directly behind me, and our light dimmed dramatically. I heard the sound of someone's wand dropping onto the stairs. Sirius and I both turned and saw Mary halfway in the stairs, a hand covering her mouth and her eyes wide.

We all stood still for a few minutes, eyes wide, our hearts beating fast. I swallowed a lump in my throat and held out a shaky hand to Mary. "Sorry," she apologized as she accepted my hand. She grabbed her wand from the stairs and I pulled her out of the stairs. Sirius and I had automatically stepped over the trick stair. Mary for whatever reason hadn't, and with the suspense right now had screamed when she felt herself falling.

All five of us were shaking pretty badly. This whole thing was scary enough, with the loud bangs and the unnatural silence. But then this medieval castle had gone dark as well, meaning anything could be in any corner and we would never know until it was on top of us.

Another bang echoed up the stairs, fainter than the others had been. We jumped again.

"It sounded like it came from over there," Sirius said, pointing vaguely in the direction of the sound. I nodded and we slowly started walking towards the sound. I kept my wand raised.

As we drew nearer, we began to hear more sounds of a struggle. Something shattered against the floor. A curse was thrown. We peeked around the corner, our heads on top of one another in an effort to see what was happening, like a totem pole.

"Bloody Hell," Sirius muttered above me.

The Entrance Hall was a mess. Statues were in pieces all over the floor. The doors were blown wide open, though a charm had been cast upon them to keep the sounds of the outside world mute. Professor Slughorn lay slumped on the ground not too far away from the doors. The divination teacher, Professor Nastert, was boldly trying to fend off the attack with Professor McGonagall and the DADA teacher, Professor Hartwick. There were no other teachers around.

The attackers wore white masks that looked like skulls, and all of them had black cloaks with the hood drawn up, except for one, who had a black fedora on his head.

"Death Eaters," Remus barely breathed below me. I almost nodded, but I was too much in shock. Death Eaters had entered Hogwarts. Death Eaters had gotten past the boundary of Hogwarts.

"We have to do something," Marlene said quietly so only we could hear. She seemed to be empowered by the knowledge of what exactly was happening and was no longer scared. Sort of like 'Oh, it's just Death Eaters? Well then let's go kick their bloody arse!'

One Death Eater in particular caught my attention when she started laughing. She had just knocked down Professor Nastert and was giggling uncontrollably. I knew what Death Eater had that giggle. Sirius and I both knew. We'd heard it enough last winter.

"Bellatrix," Sirius muttered. I couldn't tell if he was angry or scared. I refocused my attention on the one in the fedora. He turned in our direction just enough so I could see his eyes and confirm my suspicions.

"Raston's here too," I said. Sirius cursed softly.

"What should we do?" Remus asked. As Head Boy, I knew I had to fight. But I couldn't ask the same of my friends. Then again, I couldn't very well _stop _them either.

"I'm required to tell you to go back to the Common Room. But I'm not required to enforce that," I said, stepping out of our little totem pole. We made a little circle. "Be careful. These people are here for a reason, and they're likely willing to kill for it."

They nodded, though I don't think they were glad for the reminder that they could be killed. Mary and Marlene let the tips of their wands go out, shrouding us in darkness. The constant spells flying around the corner lit the halls in reds and greens and yellows and blues. There was enough action to see by.

"We'll catch them best by surprise," I whispered. I saw them nod in the flickering colors. "On three. One, two, three!"

We all jumped from around the corner and fired various spells at the Death Eaters. They weren't prepared to defend themselves from this angle, so most of our spells hit their marks. None of us wasted any time in firing off more spells and dodging spells thrown at us. It wasn't long before we were separated around the room, joining our teachers in the fight. They didn't even tell us to go hide somewhere and wait it out.

I stood back to back to McGonagall when she was stunned, her elbow hitting mine and knocking my spell off course. It was scary to see one of the fiercest wizards I know fall in battle. I fired a body-bind curse at her attacker, the spell hitting its mark and protecting my back. My attacker had melded into the shadows, and I took stock of the situation.

Mary, Remus, and Marlene had formed a triangle and were protecting each other that way while attacking the Death Eaters. Sirius was fighting two Death Eaters at once but was holding his own nicely. All of our teachers were against the floor. I blame exhaustion.

"Does this anger you, James?" I herd Raston's voice ask from behind me. I whirled, wand raised, but didn't see him. My eyes scanned the surrounding gloom. "Do you wish we didn't exist?" Raston asked. A spark lit up down the hall, signaling where he was. I fired a spell at him and saw it deflected to the wall. "Do you wish we hadn't killed your parents? That they were still alive to protect you now?" I fired another shot blindly in the general direction. "They were quite easy to kill…barely even put up a fight."

Unknowingly, I took a few steps forward and fired another spell down the dark hallway. It was deflected again.

"Temper temper. What would your parents think?" Raston asked. I gritted my teeth and fired a few more shots. I heard his laughter. "Is this all you have? Is this all you care about your parents? I thought you loved them more than this!"

I took a few more steps and fired more spells, barely even processing what I was doing. "Shut up!"

"I'm sorry. Did I hit a nerve?" Raston asked sarcastically. "A shame your mommy and daddy can't hold you back now, isn't it? Or you might do something drastic," he said.

He was right. My parents couldn't hold me back now. "And it's your fault!" I screamed, running at him now. He laughed and lit the tip of his wand as he started to run away from me, down the halls of Hogwarts.

_Sirius' POV_

"And it's your fault!" James screamed, catching all of our attention. I barely had enough time between dodging spells and casting them to see him run off down the hallway. Raston's laughter echoed around the room. I fired off quick succession spells and took down one of my opponents, rounding on the other to do the same.

Why would James run off like that? What caused him to lose control? What was he blaming the Death Eaters for right now?

"Well, it seems like our fun is coming to its climax," Bellatrix said across from me. She was my opponent this whole time? Well if I'd known that, I would have fought a lot harder against her! "Our plan is falling into place."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. We stopped firing spells at each other and settled for circling each other anxiously.

"Isn't it familiar though? As if from a dream?" Bellatrix asked, using that voice that I found incredibly creepy.

"Speak English you madwoman!" I snarled. I could see her smiling behind her mask.

"This is all being done for you, little cousin. The only way to hurt you, is to hurt James. And he's all off by himself now…" she trailed off. My eyes widened. No…this was exactly like my dream! They were going to kill James to hurt me! But why? What did I do?

That doesn't matter right now. Right now I have to go protect James before he gets hurt.

I fired a prank spell at Bellatrix which caught her completely off guard. It tied her up in ankle to neck rubber snakes. She lost her balance and fell to the ground with a thud. But by the time the thud reverberated through the stones, I was already working my way down the hallway James ran down.

I only hoped I wouldn't be too late to save my brother.

End Chapter

_I'm actually close to the end with this story. There's only a few chapters left. I don't know what to think of that. _

_I'm going to try and have the next chapter up within the week, though I have SATs this weekend so I make no promises. _

_Please leave a review!_


	15. Chapter 15

_I hope you enjoy this chapter as much I as I did writing it. _

_I do not own Harry Potter. I did make a WII character based off him though. XD_

Chapter 15

_Third Person POV_

James ran with bloodlust in his eyes through the castle, following the small light that bobbed ahead of him from Raston's wand. He'd crossed the line by insulting his parents like that. And he'd had the _gall_ to say James didn't love them? He was going to pay.

And James was looking forward to it. He was looking forward to giving Raston what he had coming to him, for making him pay for last year. He didn't even care if he ended up in Azkaban at this point. He wanted revenge.

He tripped over a fallen piece of armor and pitched forward, turning a somersault on the ground and jumping up to continue his pursuit without missing a beat.

A hallway behind James Sirius ran, his heart hammering with fear. He had to get to James and to save him…it was all planned…Sirius couldn't let anything happen to James. James was all he had left…his own family hated him, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were dead…all he had left was James, Remus, and Peter. He wasn't going to let James get himself killed.

Sirius kept his wand tip lighted and held it up high to cast the light as far as he could. He saw the armor lying in the hall and jumped over it, not missing a beat as he continued after James and Raston.

Downstairs in the entrance hall, Remus, Marlene, and Mary had knocked the rest of the Death Eaters unconscious and tied all of them up. Mary went around and checked all the teachers, fearing the worst due to their opponents. She was pleasantly surprised when she found that all of them were alive and didn't seem to be badly hurt.

Remus looked around, noticing for the first time that neither James nor Sirius were there. Panic levels rising, he looked around again. "James? Sirius?" he called out loudly. Marlene and Mary both started looking around.

"Hey, what happened to that Death Eater who had the fedora?" Marlene asked. Remus paled considerably. If Bellatrix had been there, why not Raston as well? And if he was missing along with James and Sirius…He didn't want to think about it.

"James and Sirius are in trouble," Remus stated, thinking of who's turn it was to carry the map that night. Normally it would have been Peter, but without him there it would have gone to Sirius. He cursed softly.

"How are we going to find them? This place is huge," Marlene commented. Remus frowned. He knew he could use the same tracer spell he had used the previous winter, but that had been with Lily's help. And he hadn't practiced it since. Dumbledore had told them that the spell could have dire repercussions if done incorrectly.

But what choice did he have if he wanted to save two of the only people who had ever accepted him for what he is?

Remus walked over to where Bellatrix was tied up. She was now bound in actual rope and gagged as well, but the plastic snakes Sirius had used were still scattered around her. And wherever Sirius was, James couldn't be far from. He picked up one of the plastic snakes. Sirius always had had an active imagination.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked, coming closer.

"Finding Sirius and James," Remus said. "Let me concentrate a moment."

The two girls watched silently as Remus concentrated, holding the toy snake with one hand and his wand with the other.

Xx

Raston smiled maliciously. His plan was working perfectly. James had fallen right into the palm of his hand, and was even helping Raston to close his fingers around him. He always finished his assignments, and this one would be no exception.

He could hear the boy chasing after him. They were probably far enough away for him to have no help. Raston stopped and turned, holding his wand at shoulder height. It was all coming to an end.

The boy's footsteps grew louder and he rounded the corner, coming to a screeching halt when he saw Raston's position. A fierce glare was plastered on his face. He raised his own wand for battle.

"You're going to pay for everything you've done," he said viciously.

"I bet you're all talk. You don't have the guts to hurt me," Raston said. James spit on the ground.

"Try me."

He fired a spell at Raston, which the Death Eater deflected easily, responding with an offensive spell of his own. James sidestepped and let the spell go wild, shooting another spell at Raston. Raston deflected it again and fired another spell.

"It was easy you know, to kill your parents," Raston said, deflecting another poor spell from the boy. "Quite fun too. You should have heard your mother begging for mercy…_screaming_ for it, on her _knees_," Raston said, starting to take steps closer to James. James' glare had let up as Raston's words got to him, but he was still holding his ground against him. "And your father…Hah! I've never seen a weaker man!"

"Shut up!" James said, forgetting magic all together and running forward to tackle Raston. The Death Eater, caught off guard at the muggle move, fell to the ground with a hard thud, his fedora flying off his head. James' wand lay on the ground as he repeatedly smashed his fist into Raston's face. A loud crunch resounded throughout the hall as Raston's nose gave, and blood started pouring down his face. James wasn't satisfied with that, and he kept smashing his fist into Raston's face, gaining a sick pleasure as he caused the man pain.

"James!" Sirius' voice rang out loud and clear. "What are you doing?" Sirius ran up next to James, trying to put a hand on his shoulder to calm the boy down. He was afraid to get close though for fear of being hit by James' wild throws.

"My parents were not weak!" James yelled. "My mother would never beg for mercy! She died with dignity!" Over and over, up and down, up and down, James smashed his fist into Raston's face. He did it blindly, having shut his eyes to block out the cruel images Raston's words produced in his mind. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, which only made him hit Raston harder.

"James, that's enough…I think he's unconscious…" Sirius said uncertainly. He wanted Raston to suffer as much as James did, but he didn't want to watch as his best mate became a murderer. The Ministry would never let him off if he killed Raston like this. He'd be sent to Azkaban for sure.

But James didn't hear Sirius' words. He methodically kept brining his fist down upon Raston's face, his hand covered with the other man's blood. Sirius held his hands out uncertainly, not sure what to do now.

Finally Sirius just grit his teeth and grabbed James' arm as he pulled back again. He stopped James fairly easily, which surprised him considering how venomously James had been attacking Raston.

James' shoulders started shaking, and Sirius realized immediately that he'd started crying. He pulled James off Raston and dragged him over to the wall, sitting him down so his back was to it and they could watch Raston.

James put his head in his hands, his knees bent to his chest. Sirius sat down next to James, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"That damned bastard…" James said tightly. "He deserved that, every punch."

"I think that was overkill James. But I commend your actions," Sirius said. James smiled, his eyes still closed. He dropped his right hand, the one that had been remodeling Raston's face, and draped it across his knees. He flexed his fingers and winced.

"I think I did something to my hand," he said, genuinely surprised. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand, surprised at all the blood on it. He flexed his fingers again and winced again. "Yeah, definitely did something to my hand."

Sirius stared blankly at James for a moment and then glanced over at Raston, who still hadn't moved, and then back to James. He shook his head.

"It was worth it though," James said. Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the stone wall. "Merlin I think it's already swelling," James commented, sitting forward and arranging his legs like a pretzel.

Sirius looked at James' hand, which he was turning this way and that to get a better look at.

"If you broke your hand beating his face in, I'm going to laugh so hard I might break a rib," Sirius said with a straight face. James started laughing himself, the tension of the evening fading from the atmosphere.

"It was still worth it," James said proudly. Sirius rolled his eyes and looked at James, seeing pure hatred in the boy's eyes as he looked at Raston. "Do you think I killed him?" James asked quietly.

Sirius looked over at Raston again. His form was very still, his face a bloodied mess in what little light they had. "I don't know. I hope to Merlin you didn't."

Without a word the two got up and walked over to Raston, James picking up his wand with his good hand along the way. Sirius knelt down next to him to check for a pulse.

Before either of them could react, Raston leaped up, upper-cutting Sirius in the jaw and grabbing a handful of James' shirt collar. He glared at James with enough malice to fuel all of England for a month.

"You're going to pay for that," Raston said in a dangerously low tone, his voice marred by his damaged nose. He dragged James down to the ground, smashing his head against the floor and causing James to see little owls flying around his head. The right side of his glasses was crushed in the impact, some of the pieces going in to cut James just under his eye.

Sirius got to his feet, rubbing his jaw, just in time to see James be smashed against the floor. He went into autopilot mode, tackling Raston from behind. The two tumbled head over heels to the wall. Raston was in front of Sirius and he jabbed his elbow into Sirius' jaw, knocking the teen's head into the wall. Sirius tightened his arm around Raston's throat.

Raston reached into his cloak and drew his knife. James lifted his head, still dazed, and glanced over at the two. He saw the flash of the knife in the dim lighting, and his heart froze.

"Knife!" he yelled, hoping Sirius would understand in time. The dog animagus did. He pushed Raston away from himself, but unfortunately closer to James. James rolled over a few times to distance himself from Raston, and also rolling farther away from his wand. Raston threw his knife at James.

James had nowhere to go. He was already flat on the ground. There was only so much room in the hallway before he hit the wall. There was only one direction the knife could go in. James couldn't avoid it.

So he raised his right hand and allowed the knife to implant itself hilt deep in his palm, the blade protruding from the back of his hand. He grit his teeth, feeling the pain of the new wound but refusing to acknowledge it.

Raston bent down and picked up James' discarded wand, his own having been lost in the hall awhile ago. Sirius was stunned against the wall, watching James carefully. Only too late did he realize that Raston now held a wand while neither of them did.

He did the only thing they could do in this situation. He leaped forward, clasped his hands together and smashed them into the side of Raston's head, causing the man to crumple to the ground, ran over to James and lifted him to his feet and started dragging him down the hallway.

"He won't stay down for long, we've got to get you help," Sirius said. "I know I hate him, and that you hate him, but I also know we can't kill him. But he'll kill us," Sirius said. His eyes were darting everywhere as he tried to explain why he was running. It wasn't like him to run. He didn't understand why he was running. But he was running all the same. "How's your hand?"

"It hurts. A lot," James said through gritted teeth. The fingers of his right hand were twitching, causing his hand to flare up in unnecessary pain.

Sirius nodded, realizing it was a really dumb question of him to ask. They turned down hallway after hallway, the only sound accompanying them the sound of Raston in pursuit behind them. Raston fired a spell behind them, the spell flying between their heads, just narrowly missing either one of them.

Instinctively, they opened the first door they could find and slammed the door shut behind them and continued running. They didn't realize until they were halfway up the stairs that they were in the Astronomy Tower.

The two froze and looked at each other, able to see each other's faces clearly in the light of the moon. It was too late to go back. They heard the door open below them. The only place for them to go was up.

Xx

Several floors below the Astronomy Tower, Remus, Mary, and Marlene ran through the halls, using a basic tracking spell to track Sirius. Remus had forgotten there was no Disapparating or Apparating inside of Hogwarts, so they had to follow his wand's instructions as they ran through the castle.

A gut feeling in Remus' stomach told him something bad was going to happen. Something was about to change forever. He just couldn't decide if it was good or bad.

Xx

On the tower, they immediately stepped to either side of the door. Their plan was to trap Raston on the tower as they ran back downstairs. How this was going to be accomplished, they weren't quite sure.

They heard Raston coming up the stairs, his steps slowing as he came closer. James and Sirius made eye contact with each other and nodded once. James' hand still really hurt, but he was making a major effort to ignore it.

He thought about pulling the knife out and using it against Raston, but the thought alone of removing the knife was pretty painful.

"Knock knock," Raston said behind the door before the door was blown off its hinges and fell over the side of the tower. Sirius and James watched it, praying to all deities that they wouldn't be following that door.

Raston stepped through the open doorway. Sirius acted first and tried to club Raston on the side of the head again, but Raston was prepared and blasted Sirius in the chest, sending him into the wall of the tower and almost over the edge. He fell to the floor of the tower, unconscious.

James leaped onto Raston's back then and reached around with his good hand for the wand in the Death Eater's hand. His other arm was wrapped around Raston's neck, simultaneously strangling him and sticking him with the knife. James got a hold of the wand and tried to rip it out of Raston's hand, but Raston jerked it out of James' grasp.

Raston backed up to the edge of the tower wall, to the point where James was nearly over the edge. James tightened his grip around Raston's neck, cutting off all oxygen supply. Raston staggered forward, and James was flipped over Raston's back to land hard on his own on the ground.

He coughed at the impact but rolled onto his hand and knees. Raston massaged his throat and pointed the wand at James. James froze where he was.

"And this is where we say goodbye," Raston said.

"Goodbye," James said, leaping up at Raston and grabbing the hand that held the wand. Raston fired a spell instinctively, and it hit the wall next to the door. James backhanded Raston in the chest with his right hand, screaming out with the pain it caused in his hand. Raston was stunned to say the least at the method James had used.

Stunned enough that James could wrench the wand out of his hand. His other hand was pinned to Raston's chest by the knife. A dark stain started spreading down Raston's cloak. He stared at James, incredulous, and took a step back. The wall of the tower only went to his thighs, so it wouldn't be hard for him to be flipped over the edge.

And with James' hand pinned to him, James would fall with him. He would die, but he would take James down with him.

"Nice try, but I'm not out of tricks yet," Raston said, letting himself fall over the edge. James was dragged forward to the edge. He bent down so his side hit the wall.

The knife twisted as Raston flipped, gauging a bigger hole in James' hand and causing the boy to emit a cry of pain. For a few moments, the only thing that kept Raston from falling was the knife stuck to his chest. James wrapped his fingers around the hilt in his palm and jerked back, pulling the knife from Raston's chest.

Raston fell to the ground without a sound.

James stumbled back against the wall next to the gaping hole of where the door used to be. He cradled his poor hand, trying not to scream in pain. He took deep breaths, and his sight tunneled. The pain from this one wound was incredible. How much blood had he lost from it? How hard had Raston hit his head against the floor in the hallway?

Tears of pain rolled down James' cheeks, and he let himself fall into a blissful numbness, where the only thing that existed was a black void.

Xx

Remus, Mary, and Marlene had reached the final floor of the castle, breathing hard. They could see the door to the Astronomy Tower was open. The three of them could only see that as a bad omen. They ran up the steps, taking them two at a time.

On the tower, they found James and Sirius, both unconscious. Raston was nowhere to be found, and Remus cautiously looked over the side of the tower. Far below, he saw some crumpled mass. He quickly looked away. Mary and Marlene were levitating James and Sirius, and Remus led the way back downstairs, holding a lighted wand alight to lead them to the Hospital Wing.

End Chapter

_I'm really upset that I had to kill Raston off. Like, you can't even begin to comprehend how upset I am that I killed him off. But the story never would have ended if I didn't. _

_The only chapter after this is the epilogue, which also makes me sad. I'm just in a very sad mood right now. _

_Make me feel better and review? Pretty please? _


	16. Chapter 16

_The last chapter. So upsetting. _

_I do not own any part of Harry Potter._

Chapter 16/Epilogue

_James' POV_

The rest of break was incredibly dull. Remus, Mary, Marlene, Sirius and I were all awarded Order of Merlin Second Class for helping to defend the school. I had a jagged scar on either side of my right hand from the knife. Madame Pomfrey had fixed it right up while I was unconscious, but I'd still have the scar for years to come.

The Ministry interrogated Sirius and I on the details of how Raston died. When they finally accepted we (mainly me) had only knocked him over the edge of the Astronomy Tower for self defense, they left us alone.

I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulder's with Raston's death. I didn't feel like someone was still out there hunting for my blood. Bellatrix would have something against me, sure, but I think she acts more on direct orders than on her own. I'll still be watching out for her though.

It felt great to see Lily again when she came back. I held her tight in my arms for a moment, burying my face in her hair.

"It's good to see you too James. Why didn't you ever write back over break though?" Lily asked, frowning up at me. I half smiled and showed her my hand.

"It still hurts to do most things with my hand," I told her. She gaped at the scar and grabbed my hand, flipping it over to the other side.

"James Potter, what in the name of Merlin did you do?" she demanded. I laughed lightly.

"Well…you see…" and then I went on to tell her the story of my winter break. She was a great listener, gasping at all the right places and covering her mouth at others. I may have embellished it a little for the story's sake…but hey, it was all in great fun.

And with Raston out of the picture, there was lots of fun to be had.

The luck of the Marauder's this year was finally looking up!

And guess what else? Alice came running through the doors of Hogwarts waving her left hand around and practically told every student some very big news. Frank had proposed to her over the break, and she'd said yes. They hadn't discussed any plans yet though. Alice was still excited about the actual proposal.

Seeing the ring on her hand made me do some major thinking too. (It's not impossible for me you know). Lily was thinking about the same thing too. She actually brought it up with me about two weeks later.

We were sitting on one of the couches in the common room. It was pretty late, and we were the only two there. She was leaning her head on my left shoulder, absently tracing a pattern on my hand with her fingers. I was staring blankly into the fire, practically asleep.

"Hey James?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Have you thought much about what's going to happen after Hogwarts?" she asked. I started to wake up a little.

"Yeah, I've given that a lot of thought," I said. My stomach twisted into knots, and I briefly thought that maybe Lily was going to break up with me.

"Have you ever thought about marriage?" she asked. My mind froze.

"Yeah, I've thought about it. And where are you going with this, because I'm starting to freak out," I admitted. She laughed lightly.

"I'm not going far. I've just been thinking about marriage a lot because of Alice and Frank," she said. I nodded. My mind had unfrozen and was now blurring thoughts together incoherently.

"Do you want me to propose right now?" I asked, raising a brow as I tried to look down at her.

"No, not right now. It wouldn't feel right if you did it right now," she said. I blinked a few times.

"Are you saying that one day, when you're least expecting it, you want me to ask you to marry me? The guy you've hated for most of your life," I said. I felt Lily's head dip a bit at the reminder.

"I told you I never hated you," she muttered. "And I've been thinking about this a lot, and…yeah. You're the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with," she said quietly.

I was stunned, to say the least. I had never dreamed Lily Evans would _ever_ say that to me willingly. (Well, okay, maybe I _did_ dream that once or twice, but I don't remember it!)

She took my silence as a bad sign. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind about me after six years," she said, pain threading her words. I tightened my arm around her.

"No, I haven't changed my mind," I said slowly. "I just never imagined you'd be the one to say that first, and willingly."

She laughed. I kissed the top of her head lightly.

"I've always known you were the girl for me, Lily Evans. I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life with you."

I felt her smile against my shoulder. I smiled too. My life now couldn't be any different than when the school year had first started. Raston was gone from my life. I had more or less accepted my parents' deaths. And Lily Evans had agreed to go out with me, and had even admitted she wanted to spend her life with me.

My luck couldn't be better now. I couldn't wait for the rest of my life.

End Chapter/ End story

_And there we are! The final lines of _Marauder's Luck_!_

_I think someone has already asked me this, and I'm sure more of you are wondering, but I am not writing another Marauder era story. At least not that I know of…_

_I have been thinking of another story idea, but this one would deal with Harry's generation. Whether or not I'll ever write it and post it…eh, we'll see. Wouldn't be for a few months though. If I do decide to write it, I'll post a notice on here letting you know if enough people from here show interest. _

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story and Dark Days! And thanks to all of you who read but didn't review! I know there's a lot of you! _

_Please review one last time though! I know it's the last chapter, but I still like to hear your feedback!_


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